Stability of niclosamide in water under local conditions

The stability of 14C-labelled niclosamide was studied in distilled water at two different pH values and in canal water. 2 mg/1 niclosamide solutions were exposed to direct atmospheric conditions. The activity was followed by radioassay and the concentration of niclosamide was determined by GLC. The total activity was found to decrease to 46.0% in weakly acidic solution (pH 6.5), 45% in neutral solution (pH 7.0) and 16.7% in filtered canal water after three weeks. GLC analysis showed that niclosamide concentration had dropped to 0.05, 0.06 and 0.03 mg/1 in weakly acidic, neutral medium and canal water after the same period. GLC analysis as compared to radioassay indicated the presence of increasing amounts of degradation product(s), in the chloroform extracts of water with time, which were not detected by GLC