A ring fluorinated heme, 13,17-bis(2-carboxylatoethyl)-3,8-diethyl-2-fluoro-7,12,18-trimethyl-por phyrinatoiron(III), has been incorporated into human adult hemoglobin (Hb A). The heme orientational disorder in the individual subunits of the protein has been readily characterized using F-19 NMR and the O-2 binding properties of the protein have been evaluated through the oxygen equilibrium analysis. The equilibrated orientations of hemes in alpha- and beta- subunits of the reconstituted protein were found to be almost completely opposite to each other, and hence were largely different from those of the native and the previously reported reconstituted proteins [T. Jue, G.N. La Mar, Heme orientational heterogeneity in deuterohemin-reconstituted horse and human hemoglobin characterized by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 119 (1984) 640-645]. Despite the large difference in the degree of the heme orientational disorder in the subunits of the proteins, the O-2 affinity and the cooperativity of the protein reconstituted with 2-MF were similar to those of the proteins reconstituted with a series of hemes chemically modified at the heme 3-and 8-positions [K. Kawabe, K. Imaizumi, Z. Yoshida, K. Imai, I. Tyuma, Studies on reconstituted myoglobins and hemoglobins II. Role of the heme side chains in the oxygenation of hemoglobin, J. Biochem. 92 (1982) 1713-1722], whose O-2 affinity and cooperativity were higher and lower, respectively, relative to those of native protein. These results indicated that the heme orientational disorder could exert little effect, if any, on the O-2 affinity properties of Hb A. This finding provides new insights into structure-function relationship of Hb A. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.