The secondary and tertiary 1,3,5-triazapenta-1,3-dienes 2 and 3 are easily obtained by the reaction of N-imidoyl chlorides with amidines or from ethyl N-imidoylimidoates 5 and primary amines. In a new synthetic pathway the compounds 5 were prepared by the reaction of imidoates in their protonated or free form with N-imidoyl chlorides. A quaternary 1,3,5-triazapenta-1,3-diene 4a is obtained by the reaction of the imidoate 5b with pyrrolidine. X-ray diffraction studies of the tertiary 1,3,5-triazapenta-1,3-diene 3c and its protonated form 3c·HCl allow the comparison of different patterns of intermolecular hydrogen bonding in the solid state. Two equivalents of a secondary 1,3,5-triazapenta-1,3-diene 2 were treated at room temperature after deprotonation with potassium tert-butoxide with CuCl 2 , Ni(ClO 4 ) 2 or with Pd(ac) 2 (without deprotonation) to give the corresponding neutral 2:1 chelate complexes (2a) 2 ·Cu, (2a) 2 ·Ni and (2b) 2 ·Pd, respectively. A fluorescent boron complex 2b·BF 2 was obtained by