Phenolphthalein, a widely used laxative, is the active ingredient in more than a dozen commercial nonprescription formulations. Fast-flow EPR studies of the reaction of phenolphthalein with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide permit the direct detection of two free radicals. One has EPR parameters characteristic of phenoxyl radicals. The other has a broad unresolved spectrum, possibly arising from free radical polymeric products of the initial phenoxyl radical. EPR spin-trapping studies of incubations of phenolphthalein with lactoperoxidase, reduced glutathione (GSH), and hydrogen peroxide with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO) demonstrate stimulated production of DMPO/.SG compared with an identical incubation lacking phenolphthalein. In the absence of DMPO, measurements with a Clark-type oxygen electrode show that molecular oxygen is consumed by a sequence of reactions initiated by the glutathione thiyl radical. Enhanced production of DMPO superoxide radical adduct is also found in a system of phenolphthalein, NADH, and lactoperoxidase. In this system the phenolphthalein phenoxyl radical abstracts hydrogen from NADH to generate NAD., which is not spin trapped by DMPO, but reacts with molecular oxygen to produce the superoxide radical detected by EPR. In the absence of DMPO, the oxygen consumption is measured using the Clark-type electrode. Production of ascorbate radical anion is also enhanced in a system of phenolphthalein, ascorbic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and lactoperoxidase. Ascorbate inhibits oxygen consumption when phenolphthalein is metabolized in the presence of either glutathione or NADH by reducing radical intermediates to their parent molecules and forming the relatively stable ascorbate anion radical. The detection of enhanced free radical production in these three systems, a consequence of futile metabolism (or redox cycling), suggests that phenolphthalein may be a significant source of oxidative stress in physiological systems. Parallel EPR and oxygen consumption studies with phenolphthalein glucuronide give analogous results, but with lesser enhancement of free radical production.