Carbon-centered radicals of alcohols commonly used as hydroxyl radical scavengers (MeOH, EtOH, i-PrOH and t-BuOH) add reversibly to histidine with equilibrium constants up to 3 x 10(3) M-1 and rate constants on the order of 10(9) M-1 s(-1). Similar equilibria may compromise determinations of one-electron (radical) electrode potentials.