A series of complexes incorporating diamine (o-phenylene diamine and 2-aminobenzylamine) ligands and containing the acetato and chloro salts of Ni(II) and Cu(II) was incorporated into two commercial epoxy resins recognized as industry standards (MY721 and M-Y750). The cure properties of the complexes are assessed alongside commercial curative systems. Thermal analysis (principally differential scanning calorimetry) shows that the nature of the cure mechanism can be dramatically affected by the nature of the transition metal and counterion (and the level of curing agent incorporation). For example, by using a nickel(II) acetato complex rather than its chloro analog, the onset of the cure reaction of MY721 may be reduced by 40 K. Thermogravimetric analysis, and visible, infrared, and electron spin resonance spectroscopy are employed to determine the point at which the complexes undergo dissociation. The data show that Cu(2-ABA)(2)(ac)(2) appear to dissociate at temperatures between 70 and 80degreesC in octan-1-ol. A multivariate approach is applied to the analysis of infrared data obtained for solvated complex samples subjected to a heating program and the results are consistent with the dissociation temperature obtained from the other spectral data. The data suggest that the aromatic amino function in the complex undergoes dissociation from the metal at a lower temperature than the aliphatic amine. The 2-ABA-based complexes containing chloride counterions undergo gelation at higher temperatures than their acetato analogs (for both commercial epoxy systems). The newly prepared complexes generally display eta(min) values comparable with the commercial curative systems [the exceptions being Cu(2-ABA)(2)Cl-2 and Ni(OPD)(3)Cl-2, which produce markedly higher values of 14 and 10 P, respectively], but it is believed that this is due to agglomeration and settling of the complex as the resin viscosity decreases during the heating cycle.