Alloxan causes diabetes in experimental animals through its ability to destroy the insulin-secreting B-cells of the pancreas. Alloxan is hydrophilic and chemically unstable; it is reactive toward thiols, undergoing redox cycling in the presence of glutathione and oxidizing protein-bound thiol groups, as reflected by inhibition of the thiol enzymes, hexokinase and glucokinase. It is apparently also selectively taken up by the GLUT-2 glucose transporter in the pancreatic B-cell membrane. In order to investigate which, if any, of these physicochemical properties are important in the toxic action of alloxan, we have examined seven N-alkyl substituted alloxan derivatives of various diabetogenic activity. Hydrophilicity was identified as a factor essential for diabetogenicity. Stability, rate of redox cycling and reactivity toward thiol groups were not correlated with diabetogenicity. Selective uptake by the GLUT-2 glucose transporter is not a prerequisite for the diabetogenicity of alloxan derivatives.