The reaction of CdBr 2 ·4H 2 O with ancillary ligands, N,N-bis(1H-pyrazolyl-1-methyl)aniline (L 1 ), N,N-bis(1H-pyrazolyl-1-methyl)-pmethylaniline (L 2 ), N,N-bis(1H-pyrazolyl-1-methyl)-3,5-dimethylaniline (L 3 ), N,N-bis(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazolyl-1-methyl)aniline (L 4 ) and N,N-bis(1H-pyrazolyl-1-methyl)-2,6-dimethylaniline (L 5 ) in ethanol yields novel Cd(II) bromide a bromo-bridged dimeric species with crystallographic inversion symmetry. Conversely, [L 4 CdBr 2 ] and [L 5 CdBr 2 ] exist as monomeric complexes, presumably due to the steric hindrance between the methyl substituents of the two pyrazole groups in the ligand and cadmium centre for [L 4 CdBr 2 ], and crowding around the cadmium metal by methyl substituents on the aniline residue in the ligand for [L 5 CdBr 2 ]. The geometry at each Cd(II) centre for [L 1 CdBr 2 ] 2 , [L 2 CdBr 2 ] 2 and [L 3 CdBr 2 ] 2 is best described as a distorted trigonal bipyramid. A distorted trigonal bipyramid is achieved in [L 4 CdBr 2 ] by coordinative interaction of the nitrogen atom of the aniline unit and the cadmium atom with a σ plane of symmetry, based on the bond length of Cd-N aniline (2.759(7) Å). [L 5 CdBr 2 ] exists with a distorted tetrahedral geometry involving non-coordination of the nitrogen atom of aniline and the Cd centre, resulting in the formation of an eight-membered chelate ring. The catalytic activity of monomeric, five-coordinated [L 4 CdBr 2 ] in the polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in the presence of modified methylaluminoxane (MMAO) at 60°C resulted in a higher molecular weight and a narrower polydispersity index (PDI) than those obtained with dimeric [L n CdBr 2 ] 2 (L n = L 1 , L 2 , L 3 ) or monomeric tetrahedral [L 5 CdBr 2 ].