Silyl and stannyl complexes of ruthenium and osmium bearing halogen substituents on the silicon and tin atoms undergo many interesting reactions. While there are formal similarities, there are also marked differences between these silyl and stannyl derivatives. This review first surveys the synthetic approaches we have developed to the silyl and stannyl complexes that involve oxidative addition of halogenated silanes coupled with reductive elimination for the preparation of the silyl complexes L n M(SiR n X 3-n ) (M ) Ru, Os) and reaction between L n MH and the vinylstannane R 3 SnCHdCH 2 to give first the triorganostannyl complexes L n M(SnR 3 ) (M ) Ru, Os), which are then functionalized by redistribution reactions to give L n M(SnR n X 3-n ) (M ) Ru, Os). Among the unusual compounds derived from these halogenated silyl and stannyl complexes are derivatives with the following novel ligands: Si(OH) 3 , Sn-(OH) 3 , silatranyl, stannatranyl, SnH 3 , and SnMe 2 SnPh 3 . A contrast between the osmasilanol L n Os(SiMe 2 -OH) and the osmastannol L n Os(SnMe 2 OH) is that the former deprotonates to a silanolate anion, [L n Os(SiMe 2 O)] -, while the latter, when treated with base, ortho-stannylates a triphenylphosphine ligand. Another contrast is provided by the ease with which osmium trimethylstannyl complexes undergo R-methyl migration reactions.