Abstract The catalytic hydrolysis of p‐nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA) by copper ion complexes of diamine‐based ligands in cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micellar solution was investigated kinetically at 25°C. A binary complex kinetic model for metallomicellar catalysis was suggested to treat quantitatively the catalytic hydrolysis of PNPA. The results indicated that copper ion complexes of diamine‐based ligands in CTAB micellar solution catalyze the hydrolysis of PNPA to different extents and the catalytic mechanism is believed to involve copper coordinated w...