The intramolecular acetate rearrangements of the Zn-II, Cd-II and Hg-II complexes of 1,3-propylenediaminetetraacetic acid were studied by proton NMR spectra in the binary solvents D2O/DMSO-d(6), D2O/methanol-d(4) and D2O/dioxane, respectively. An increase in the rate of the nitrogen inversion process was observed with increasing amount of the organic component present in the solvent mixture. In the range of temperatures from 25 degrees C to 80 degrees C, the activation energy and the activation entropy of the acetate rearrangement process were found to decrease with increasing concentration of the organic component. The interaction of organic component with the complex is suggested. The rate constant of the intramolecular process is related to the relative permittivity of the solvent mixture by the Born equation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd