School of Studies in Chemistry, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur-492 010, India Manuscript received 3 May 2000, revised 13 October 2000, accepted 8 December 2000 A kinetic and product study of hydrolysis of hydroxamate siderophore, i.e. desferal in aqueous hydrochloric acid media (0.029­- 2.32 mol dm-3) is reported. Solvent isotope, salt, organic solvents, and temperature effects have also been probed. A Cox-Yates excess acidity analysis of the observed pseudo-first order rate constants as a function of acidity indicates an A-2 mecha­nism.