Nitric oxide (NO) in oxygen-containing aqueous solution has a short half-life that is often attributed to a rapid oxidation to both NO2- and NO3-. The chemical fate of NO in aqueous solution is often assumed to be the same as that in air, where NO is oxidized to NO2 followed by dimerization to N2O4. Water then reacts with N2O4 to form both NO2- and NO3-. We report here that NO in aqueous solution containing oxygen is oxidized primarily to NO2- with little or no formation of NO3-. In the presence of oxyhemoglobin or oxymyoglobin, however, NO and NO2- were oxidized completely to NO3-. Methemoglobin was inactive in this regard. The unpurified cytosolic fraction from rat cerebellum, which contains constitutive NO synthase activity, catalyzed the conversion of L-arginine primarily to NO3- (NO2-/NO3- ratio = 0.25). After chromatography on DEAE-Sephacel or affinity chromatography using 2',5'-ADP-Sepharose 4B, active fractions containing NO synthase activity catalyzed the conversion of L-arginine primarily to NO2- (NO2-/NO3- ratio = 5.6) or only to NO2-, respectively. Unpurified cytosol from activated rat alveolar macrophages catalyzed the conversion of L-arginine to NO2- without formation of NO3-. Addition of 30 microM oxyhemoglobin to all enzyme reaction mixtures resulted in the formation primarily of NO3- (NO2-/NO3- ratio = 0.09 to 0.20). Cyanide ion, which displaces NO2- from its binding sites on oxyhemoglobin, inhibited the formation of NO3-, thereby allowing NO2- to accumulate. These observations indicate clearly that the primary decomposition product of NO in aerobic aqueous solution is NO2- and that further oxidation to NO3- requires the presence of additional oxidizing species such as oxyhemoproteins.