Twenty candidate active-site-directed irreversible inhibitors of xanthine oxidase have been synthesized and evaluated. These were derived from m-or p-amino-9-phenylguanine attached to benzenesulfonyl fluoride by a sulfonamide, carboxamide, or urea bridge. Three excellent irreversible inhibitors emerged that at a concentration of 10-6 to 10-7 M gave total inactivation of xanthine oxidase with a half-life of 1 min or less; these were 9-phenylguanines substituted by a p-(p-fluorosulfonylbenzamido) (2), p-(m-fluorosulfonylbenzamido) (7), or m-(p-fluorosulfonylbenzenesulfonamido) (21) moiety. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.