The allocation and turnover of photosynthetically assimilated (14)CO(2) in lipid and protein fractions of soybean (Glycine max L. Clark) leaves and stem materials was measured. In whole plant labeling experiments, allocation of photosynthate from a pulse of (14)CO(2) into polymeric compounds was: 25% to proteins in 4 days, 20% to metabolically inert cell wall products in 1 to 2 days, 10% to lipids in 4 days, and 4% to starch in 1 day. The amount of (14)C labeled photosynthate that an actively growing leaf (leaf 4) used for its own lipid synthesis immediately following pulse labeling was about 25%. The (14)C of labeled proteins turned over with half-lives of 3.8, 3.3, and 4.1 days in leaves 1, 2, and 3, respectively; and turnover of (14)C in total shoot protein proceeded with a half-life of 5.2 days. Three kinetic (14)C turnover patterns were observed in lipids: a rapid turnover fraction (within a day), an intermediate fraction (half-life about 5 days), and a slow turnover fraction. These results are discussed in terms of previously published accounts of translocation, carbon budgets, carbon use, and turnover in starch, lipid, protein, and cell wall materials of various plants including soybeans.