Gel permeation chromatography of spent liquors from oxygen bleaching showed that cleavage of covalent linkages in the fiber was a prerequisite for the dissolution of the lignin. The reactions continued in the liquor phase. The cleavage was related to the oxidation of the lignin. With pulps pretreated with nitrogen dioxide an appreciable number of lignin linkages were cleaved also by the direct influence of the hydroxide ions on the nitrated lignin. In the alkaline medium the acidic sites in the fiber and in dissolved lignin fragments are ionized. Donnan-exclusion and an increased fiber swelling promote the transfer of the fragments into the liquor. Hydrophilic groups introduced into the lignin during oxygen bleaching promote the delignification.