(4-Hydroxyphenyl)pyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) catalyzes the conversion of (4-hydroxyphenyl)pyruvate (HPP) to homogentisate (HG). This reaction involves decarboxylation, substituent migration, and aromatic oxygenation in a single catalytic cycle. HPPD is a unique member of the alpha-keto acid dependent oxygenases that require Fe(II) and an alpha-keto acid substrate to oxygenate or oxidize an organic molecule. We have examined the reaction coordinate of HPPD from Streptomyces avermitilis using rapid mixing pre-steady-state methods in conjunction with steady-state kinetic analyses. Acid quench reactions and product analysis of homogentisate indicate that HPPD as isolated is fully active and that experiments limited in dioxygen concentration with respect to that of the enzyme do involve a single turnover. These experiments indicate that during the course of one turnover the concentration of homogentisate is stoichiometric with enzyme concentration by approximately 200 ms, well before the completion of the catalytic cycle. Subsequent single turnover reactions were monitored spectrophotometrically under pseudo-first-order and matched concentration reactant conditions. Three spectrophotometrically distinct intermediates are observed to accumulate. The first of these is a relatively strongly absorbing species with maxima at 380 and 480 nm that forms with a rate constant (k(1)) of 7.4 x 10(4) M(-)(1) s(-)(1) and then decays to a second intermediate with a rate constant (k(2)) of 74 s(-)(1). The rate constant for the decay of the second intermediate (k(3)) is 13 s(-)(1) and is concomitant with the formation of the product, homogentisate, based on rapid quench and pre-steady-state fluorescence measurements. The rate constant for this process decreases to 7.6 s(-)(1) when deuterons are substituted for protons in the aromatic ring of the substrate. The release of product from the enzyme is rate limiting and occurs at 1.6 s(-)(1). This final event exhibits a kinetic isotope effect of 2 with deuterium oxide as the solvent, consistent with a solvent isotope effect on V(max) of 2.6 observed in steady-state experiments.