Recent studies have shown that cobalt catalysts, used for curing of alkyd coatings, are potentially carcinogenic, and hence replacement by new environmental friendly catalysts is needed. The influence of different metal based catalysts on the oxidation process has been studied extensively in model systems, consisting of unsaturated oils. However, these results may not be representative for real coatings, since in these systems the oxygen diffusion is much lower than in model systems and therefore may have a large effect oil the curing. In this paper, we will show how the curing of an alkyd coating depends on the type of catalyst (cobalt or manganese based). The curing process is studied using a high spatial resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) setup. The final network structure and cross-link density are found to be correlated with the catalyst used, i.e. a cobalt based catalyst and two manganese based catalysts. The difference in final network structure is investigated by NMR T-2 relaxation analysis and the glass transition temperature T-g measured using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). In case of the cobalt based catalyst a cross-linking front was observed and a high cross-link density was found, compared to the manganese based catalysts, in which case no sharp cross-linking front was observed. To interpret the observed NMR profiles in more detail, simulations based on a reaction-diffusion model were performed. From the results of these simulations estimates were obtained for the reaction constants and the diffusion of oxygen for the different catalysts. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.