Kinetics of hydrolysis of methenamine

The kinetics of degradation of methenamine were studied in citrate--phosphate buffers between pH 2.0 and 7.4 at 37.5 degrees. GLC was used to monitor the rate of hydrolysis. The conversion of methenamine to formaldehyde was found to be pH dependent in the buffers of constant ionic strength, with the reaction half-life decreasing from 13.8 hr at pH 5.8 to 1.6 hr at pH 2.0. The kinetics of degradation also were measured at 47, 57, and 67 degrees, and the reaction obeyed the Arrhenius relationship. At pH 2.0, the activation energy was calculated to be 23.5 kcal/mole; at pH 5.1, it was 12.0 kcal/mole.