Micrococcus luteus purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) has been purified and characterized. The physical and kinetic properties have been described previously. Chemical modification of the enzyme was attempted to gain insight on the active site. The enzyme was inactivated in a time-dependent manner by the arginine- specific modifying reagent phenylglyoxal. There was a linear relationship between the observed rate of inactivation and the phenylglyoxal concentration. At 30 $^{circ}C$ the bimolecular rate constant for the modification was 0.015 $min^{-1}mM^{-1}$ in 50 mM $NaHCO_3$ buffer, pH 7.5. The plot of logk versus log phenylglyoxal concentration was a strainght line with a slope value of 0.9, indicating that modification of one arginine residue was needed to inactivate the enzyme. Preincubation with saturated solutions of substrates protected the enzyme from inhibition of phenylglyoxal, indicating that reactions with phenylglyoxal were directed at arginyl residues essential for the catalytic functioning of the enzyme.