The crystal structures of two coordination compounds of N-benzoylglycine, viz. catena-poly[[[diaquabis(N-benzoylglycinato)cobalt(II)]-μ-aqua] dihydrate], {[Co(C9H8NO3)2(H2O)3]·2H2O}
n
, 1, and catena-poly[[[diaquabis(N-benzoylglycinato)nickel(II)]-μ-aqua] dihydrate], {[Ni(C9H8NO3)2(H2O)3]·2H2O}
n
, 2, are described. The structures of 1 and 2 were reported previously [Morelock et al. (1979). J. Am. Chem. Soc.
101, 4858–4866] and redetermined in this work to determine the H-atom coordinates. In the isostructural compounds, the central metal is located on an inversion centre and exhibits a distorted octahedral geometry. A pair of terminal aqua ligands disposed trans to each other and a pair of monodentate N-benzoylglycinate ligands form the square base and account for four of the six vertices of the octahedron. A μ2-bridging aqua ligand links the bivalent metals into one-dimensional chains extending along the c-axis direction. The one-dimensional chains stabilized by O—H...O hydrogen bonds are interlinked by N—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen-bonding interactions.