Metal acetylacetonates are effective latent catalysts for epoxy/anhydride systems. A screen test on the catalytic behavior of metal acetylacetonate shows that this system offers a wide range of curing latency and material properties. It can be inferred that the curing behavior is closely related to the bonding strength of the metal ion to the ligand. Isothermal kinetic study on the catalytic behavior of metal chelates with first-row transition metal ions is conducted and analyzed by using an autocatalytic model. It is found that the activation energy of the system containing the divalent metal chelates follows the Irving and Williams rule, The activation energies, of the reaction obtained in the kinetic study are compared with the dissociation energies, of the metal/ligand bond and the results are discussed.