What are Metal Carboxylates?

Metal carboxylates added to drying oil coatings and printing inks, with air drying alkyd resin as the primary ingredient, will accelerate oxidation polymerization to accelerate the curing (drying) of the coating film. There are a number of types of metal carboxylates that are normally combined and used.
Dryers primarily promote 1. double-bond α-Methylene hydrogen abstraction and 2. decomposition of produced peroxide and work to accelerate resin polymerization.

Cobalt carboxylates are used in various organic synthetic catalysts as an oxidation catalyst. For example, cobalt carboxylates are used as an oxidation catalyst when manufacturing cyclohexanone, an ingredient in caprolactam which is the base for nylon 6, by direct oxidation of cyclohexane.
Cobalt and nickel carboxylates are also used as polymerization catalysts for butadiene rubber.

Cure acceleration of unsaturated polyester resin combined with radicalized organic peroxide becoming a cross-linking agent. Cobalt and manganese carboxylates work to accelerate resin curing by accelerating organic peroxide decomposition (radicalization).