Kinetics of Degradation in Solution of Epinephrine by Molecular Oxygen

The rate of degradation of epinephrine in aqueous solution at pH 5 by molecular oxygen has been shown to be extremely complex functions of both the amine and oxygen concentrations. The kinetic studies, based on chromatographic isolation of epinephrine as its triacetate, indicate that at the pH used (a) the degradation products had no detectable effect on the observed oxidative rate, (b) the dependency on the catecholamine ranged from 1.0 to 0.5 depending on oxygen tension, and (c) conversely, the dependency on oxygen varied from over 1 to less than 0.4 depending on epinephrine concentration.