Oxidation of Aqueous Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine by Calcium Hypochlorite or Hydrogen Peroxide/ Copper Sulfate

Abstract The oxidative destruction of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) by a molar excess of Ca(OCl)2 leads mainly to formaldehyde dimethylhydrazone and tetramethyl tetrazene, but not to N-nitrosodi-methylamine (NDMA). An alternate method using H2O2/CuSO4 leads to ca. 25% NDMA. The amount of UDMH destroyed is affected by the order of addition of the H2O2, and CuSO4: when the CuSO4 is added first, only ca. 65% of the UDMH is destroyed, while the reverse order of addition leads to 100% destruction of UDMH.