Abstract Thermochemical functions of the deaquation-olation on K[Co(OH)L4(H2O)] type complexes in the solid phase were determined by means of derivatography and UV spectral measurements and the mechanisms were discussed on the basis of the results. In the above formula, L4, denotes nitrilotriacetate (nta), nitriloisopropionicdiacetate (nipda), d,l-α-amino-n-butyric-N,N-diacetate (α-abda), l-leucine-N,N-diacetate (lda), l-valine-N,N-diacetate (vda), d-α-phenylglycine-N,N-diacetate (pgda), or d,l-α-phenylalanine-N,N-diacetate (pada) ions. These complexes were found to liberate one mole of coordinating water upon heating and to turn into the olated compound bridged with two OH groups at the same time. From an estimation of enthalpy change and activation energy for the reaction, it was found that the reaction is apt to take place more easily as the structural complexities of chelating agents increase and that the reaction always proceeds in the first order. We might conclude that the evolution of coordinating water is the rate-determining step in the reaction.