We have investigated the coordination of alkanide and alkynide anions to the coordinatively unsaturated aluminium atoms of the methylene-bridged dialuminium compound R 2 Al-CH 2 -AlR 2 [1, R = CH(SiMe 3 ) 2 ]. Treatment of 1 with the corresponding lithium derivatives in the presence of a small excess of TMEN (TMEN = tetramethylethylenediamine) yielded mono-adducts [M] + [R 2 Al-CH 2 -AlR 2 R'] -[2a, M = Li(TMEN) 2 , R' = Me; 2b, M = Li(TMEN) 2 , R' = n-Bu; 3a, M = Li(TMEN) 2 , R' = CϵC-SiMe 3 ; 3b, M = Li(TMEN) 2 , R' = CϵC-t-Bu; 3d, M = Li(DME) 3 , R' = CϵC-Ph; 3e, M = Li(TMEN) 2 , R' = CϵC-PPh 2 )] and bis-adducts [Li(TMEN) 2 ] + [LiCH 2 (AlR 2 R') 2 ] -[4a, R' = CϵC-CH 2 -NEt 2 ; 4b, R' = CϵC-t-Bu]. In the solid state the