Recombinant human insulin-like growth factor I (hIGF-I) was reacted with azidobenzoyl hydroxysuccinimide to produce a mixture of photoactive hIGF-I derivatives. The mixture was purified by reversed-phase HPLC to yield three mono-substituted azidobenzoyl hIGF-Is. One of the derivatives was identified by amino acid sequencing as N epsilon B28-monoazidobenzoyl hIGF-I. This derivative was indistinguishable from native hIGF-I when bioassayed in Rat-1 fibroblasts. A 120-kDa band, the alpha subunit of the IGF-I receptor, was specifically labeled in Rat-1 plasma membranes by this photoprobe. The labeling of this band was reduced by hIGF-I at 1 nM and completely abolished by hIGF-I, but not insulin, at 100 nM, indicating the specificity of the photolabeling of the IGF-I receptor by this fully active IGF-I photoprobe.