Reaction of isoquinoline (iQuin) with cobalt(II) and nickel(II) chloride and bromide produced a family of neutral coordination complexes: (iQuin)₂CoX₂ [X=Cl (1), Br (2)], (iQuin)₄CoX₂ (X=Cl (3), X=Br (4)], (iQuin)₄NiX₂ [X=Cl, (5), X=Br, (6)], and (iQuin)₂NiBr₂(CH₃CN)₂ (7). The crystal structures of 1–5 and 7 are reported. The majority of the compounds crystallize with some of
the iQuin ligands undergoing a ~2-fold rotational disorder, likely caused by the nearly equivalent space occupied by the two positions. The disorder is temperature independent and ~50:50 in all cases but one. Magnetic measurements for all seven compounds indicate that their behavior is dominated by single-ion anisotropy effects with indications of antiferromagnetic exchange also present in 1 and 2.