The interaction of baicalein with bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated with the help of spec-troscopic and molecular docking studies. The binding affinity of baicalein towards BSA was estimated to be in order of 105 M?1 from fluorescence quenching studies. NegativeΔH° (?5.6670.14 kJ/mol) and positive (ΔS°) ( t 79.96 7 0.65 J/mol K) indicate the presence of electrostatic interactions along with the hydrophobic forces that result in a positiveΔS°. The hydrophobic association of baicalein with BSA di-minishes in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) due to probable hydrophobic association of baicalein with SDS, resulting in a negativeΔS° ( ? 40.65 7 0.87 J/mol K). Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight (MALDI–TOF) experiments indicate a 1:1 complexation between baicalein and BSA. The unfolding and refolding phenomena of BSA were investigated in the absence and presence of baicalein using steady-state and fluorescence lifetime measurements. It was observed that the presence of urea ruptured the non-covalent interaction between baicalein and BSA. The presence of metal ions (Ag t , Mg2 t , Ni2 t , Mn2 t , Co2 t and Zn2 t ) increased the binding affinity of ligand towards BSA. The changes in conformational aspects of BSA after ligand binding were also investigated using circular di-chroism (CD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic techniques. Site selectivity studies following molecular docking analyses indicated the binding of baicalein to site 1 (subdomain IIA) of BSA.&2016 Xi'an Jiaotong University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article.