In this paper, the enthalpies of dissolution of oxysophocarpine in water were measured using a RD496-2000 Calvet microcalorimeter at 298.15 K under atmospheric pressure, showing that the dissolution process was an endothermic and exothermic oscillation behavior. A series of thermodynamics functions and the half-life were obtained by thermodynamic and kinetic methods. The results show that this work not only provide a simple method for the determination of the half-life for a drug but also offer a theoretical reference for the clinical application of resveratrol. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.