The bivalent metal complexes of 2, 4-pentanedione (M (acac) 2) catalyzes the conversion of 3-(1-hydroxy-2, 2, 2-trichloroethyl)-2, 4-pentanedione (A) into chloral and acetylacetone (Hacac) in a chloroform solution. The order of activity of M (acac) 2 as the catalyst is: Mg (II), Mn (II)> Co (II)> Ni (II)> Cu (II)< Zn (II). It was found that the catalyzed reaction proceeds through saturation-type kinetics. The Lineweaver-Burk-type plots show linear relationships ...