A short route for the preparation of tetradentate amine-thioether and amine-thiolate ligands derived from thiosalen is reported. The ligating properties of several of the synthesized ligands towards Ni(II) has been examined. The diamine-dithiophenolate ligands (L 6 support the formation of four-coordinate Ni II N 2 S 2 complexes [Ni II (L 6 )] (10) and [Ni II (L 7 )] (11). By contrast, the amine-thioethers 2 [N ,N -bis(2-(tert-butylthio)benzyl)ethane-1,2-diamine], L 2 [8,11-diaza-5,13-dibenzo-1,4-dithia-cyclotetradecane] and its N-methylated derivative L 2,Me were found to produce the six-coordinate Ni(II) complexes [Ni II Cl 2 (2) 2 ] (9), [Ni II 2 (µ-Cl) 2 (L 2 ) 2 ][ClO 4 ] 2 (12), [Ni II (NCS) 2 (L 2 )] (13), and [Ni II Cl 2 (L 2,Me )] (14). The results of IR, NMR and UV/vis spectroscopy and the crystal structures of complexes 9 -13 are reported.