A mono-azetidine compound had been demonstrating a ring opening reaction with carboxylic acid (e.g., trimethylacetic acid, TMAA) and that resulted in an amino ester bond formation at ambient temperature. A triazetidine compound (trimethylolpropane tris(1-azetidinyl)propionate, TMPTA-AZT) was obtained via Michael addition of azetidine (AZT) to trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA). The carboxylic groups of anionic aqueous-based polyurethanes (PU) served as internal emulsifier, which stabilized PU dispersion and also served as PU curing sites. The triazetidine compound (TMPTA-AZT) was introduced into anionic aqueous-based PU dispersion as a new latent curing agent and that mixture became a single-component self-curable aqueous PU system. A crosslinked PU film was obtained from this PU system on drying at ambient temperature. The final polymer performance properties demonstrated the crosslinking behaviors of this new curing agent, TMPTA-AZT, with carboxylic ion-containing aqueous-based PU resins. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012