Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was modified by maleic anhydride and citraconic anhydride. The thermal and organic solvent tolerances of native and modified enzyme were compared. These chemical modifications of HRP increased their thermostability both in aqueous buffer and some organic solvents, and also enhanced their tolerances of some organic solvents. We have studied the unfolding of native and modified HRP by heat to determine the conformational stability. The temperature at the midpoint of thermal denaturation (T(m)) was increased upon modification. Both enthalpy change (DeltaH(m)) and entropy change (DeltaS(m)) for unfolding of modified enzyme at T(m) were decreased compared with native enzyme. Circular dichroism studies proved that these modifications changed the conformation of HRP. The improvements of stability are related to side chain reorientations of aromatics upon both modifications.