[en] Acquisition of information on molecular biology involves four stages: establishment of procedures for the separation, isolation, and characterization of radiation products of nucleic acid bases, nucleosides, etc.; development of methods for the synthesis of these products once they are identified so that a constant supply in milligram to gram quantities is available for the studies in stages 3 and 4; examination of the apparent biological effects of each product in vitro and in vivo; and study of the molecular mechanism related to an observed biological phenomenon. In view of the difficulties experienced in this area of research and this deliberate and careful investigative approach, it was generally believed that progress toward our final goal would be rather prolonged. Yet the elucidation of a molecular mechanism by which ionizing radiation induces mutation in vivo is very near at hand. Further progress has been made in the separation and isolation of three hydroperoxy derivatives of thymidine. One communication has appeared and another has been submitted for publication. The former reports the efficient stereospecific synthesis of cis-pyrimidine glycols and the latter describes the study of mutagenicity and toxicity of seven radiation products of thymine and thymidine using Ames Salmonella test. Also, a quantitative study of the reversion of cytosine N(3)-oxide, a hydroperoxidation product induced by 6-TOOH, to cytosine has been carried out