Pseudo-first-order rate constants have been measured spectrophotometrically for the reactions of 8-(5-nitroquinolyl) 3-furoate with alkali metal ethoxides in anhydrous ethanol. The plot of kobs vs the concentration of alkali metal ethox ides is linear for the reactions performed in the presence of a complexing agent, 18-crown-6 ether, but exhibits upward curvatures for the corresponding reactions performed in the absence of the complexing agent, indicating that the alkali metal ions in this study behave as catalysts. Second-order rate constants were determined for the reactions with dissociated free ethoxide (kEtO-) and with ion paired alkali metal ethoxides (kEtO-M + ) from ion pairing treatments. The magnitude of catalytic effect (kEtO-M + /kEtO-) was found to be 1.7, 3.4 and 2.5 for the reaction of 8-(5-nitroquinolyl) 3-furoate, while 1.4, 3.6 and 4.2 for that of 4-nitrophenyl 2-furoate, 1.8, 3.7 and 2.4 for that of 8-(5-nitroquinolyl) benzoate, and 2.0, 9.8 and 9.3 for that of 8-(5-nitroquinolyl) 2-furoate with EtO- Li+ , EtO- Na+ and EtO- K+ , respectively. A 5-membered chelation at the leaving group is suggested to be responsible for the catalytic effect shown by alkali metal ions.