The kinetics of the oxidation of five catecholamines viz., dopamine (A), Ldopa (B), methyldopa (C), epinephrine (D) and norepinephrine (E) by sodium N-chloro-ptoluenesulfonamide or chloramine-T (CAT) in presence of HClO 4 was studied at 30 ± 0.1 • C. The five reactions followed identical kinetics with a first-order dependence on [CAT] o , fractionalorder in [substrate] o , and inverse fractional-order in [H + ]. Under comparable experimental conditions, the rate of oxidation of catecholamines increases in the order D > E > A > B > C. The variation of ionic strength of the medium and the addition of p-toluenesulfonamide or halide ions had no significant effect on the reaction rate. The rate increased with decreasing dielectric constant of the medium. The solvent isotope effect was studied using D 2 O. A Michaelis-Menten type mechanism has been suggested to explain the results. Equilibrium and decomposition constants for CAT-catecholamine complexes have been evaluated. CH 3 C 6 H 4 SO 2 NHCl of the oxidant has been postulated as the reactive oxidizing species and oxidation products were identified. An isokinetic relationship is observed with β = 361 K, indicating that enthalpy factors control the reaction rate. The mechanism proposed and the derived rate law are consistent with the observed kinetics.