The effects of heat and UV exposure on the degradation of free a-tocopherol (oil form), a-tocopherol dissolved in methanol, and a-tocopherol dissolved in hexane were measured. Results showed that degradation of free a-tocopherol due to heat followed first order kinetics, with the samples held at 180°C showing the greatest degradation rate. Free a-tocopherol degraded faster at high temperatures than dissolved a-tocopherol. In contrast, free a-tocopherol did not degrade when exposed to UV light for as long as 6 h, but the hexane and methanol samples degraded significantly as a matter of time. The a-tocopherol dissolved in hexane and methanol degraded by 20 and 70%, respectively over this time span. A mechanism for degradation of a-tocopherol was proposed to explain the higher degradation rate of a-tocopherol in methanol, as compared to hexane for times longer than 180 min. Knowledge of degradation kinetics of pure a-tocopherol as a result of temperature or exposure to UVA light whether in free or dissolved form is critically needed to understand how different processing parameters affect the amount of a-tocopherol during extraction, stabilization, storage or encapsulation processes.