Kinetics and mechanism of chlorambucil hydrolysis.

The kinetics and mechanism of hydrolysis of the cytotoxic drug chlorambucil were investigated. A study of the reaction order and of the pH, dielectric constant, and ionic strength effects on the reaction rate revealed that the hydrolysis was a limiting unimolecular nucleophilic substitution, the rate-determining step being the ionization of the first 2-chloroethylamine chlorine. The hydrolysis rate was markedly dependent on the protonation degree of the chlorambucil basic group. indicating that a cyclic ethyleneimmonium ion may be involved in the rate-determining step.