Procedure for the isolation of peptides from proteins bearing the chemically labile aromatic ether, O-tyrosyl-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole group, is described. 2. The tyrosyl residue reactive towards 7-chloro-4-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole in chicken egg white lysozyme (Aboderin, A. A., Boedefeld, E. and Luisi, P. L., (1973) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 328. 20-30) is tyrosine-23. The amino group in the protein whose reaction with the reagent is dependent on the prior reaction of tyrosine-23 is the epsilon-amino group of lysine-33.