Abstract Oral cancer is the major form of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, which is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Tobacco smoking is one of the leading causes of oral cancer. Dibenzo[a, l]pyrene (DB[a, l]P) is the most potent carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon found in tobacco smoke. Our laboratory had developed a mouse model of oral cancer induced by DB[a, l]P. Our working hypothesis is that the stereochemical course of DB[a, l]P metabolism, the conformations of the DNA adducts formed and their removal by mammalian DNA repair enzymes, and their mutagenic properties if not removed in an error-free manner, all play critical roles during the induction of oral carcinogenesis. As an initial study to test our hypothesis, we have previously developed a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to detect and quantify DB[a, l]PDE-N6-dA adducts in oral tissues of mice treated with DB[a, l]P. We have shown that (-)-anti-cis- and (-)-anti-trans-DB[a, l]PDE-N6-dA adducts were detected from oral tissues of mice treated with DB[a, l]P. In the present study, to further test our hypothesis, we report on the development of a LC-MS/MS method to detect DB[a, l]PDE-N2-dG adducts in vivo. (±)-anti-[15N5]-DB[a, l]PDE-N2-dG adducts were synthesized as internal standards. The stereochemistry of adducts were characterized. Following the addition of internal standards, DNA isolated from oral tissues of mice treated with DB[a, l]P or DB[a, l]PDE was enzymatically hydrolyzed to 2′-deoxyribonucleosides and partially purified by solid-phase extraction. The LC-MS/MS analysis was carried out by monitoring transitions m/z 620 [M+H]+→ m/z 504 [(M+H)+−2′-deoxyribose] for DB[a, l]PDE-N2-dG adducts and m/z 625α m/z 509 for the internal standards. We have detected two N2-dG adducts from oral tissues of mice treated with DB[a, l]P, and four N2-dG adducts from oral tissues of mice treated with (±)-anti-DB[a, l]PDE. Collectively, the in vivo detection of dA and dG adducts indicated that DB[a, l]P is predominantly metabolized to (-)-anti-DB[a, l]PDE in oral tissues of mice. This sensitive LC-MS/MS method, is capable of simultaneously detecting both dA and dG adducts derived from anti-DB[a, l]PDE. Our results indicated that levels of dA adducts are significantly higher than dG adducts in vivo, which are consistent with those reported in literature in organs other than oral tissues, demonstrating that fjord region diol epoxide of DB[a, l]P predominantly form dA adducts than dG adducts. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5469. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5469