Keywords: Steric demand / Selenolato ligands / Phosphane ligands / Hydrogen bonds / X-ray diffractionAn improved synthesis of 4,4-bis(hydroxymethyl)-1,2-diselenolane and the complexation properties of the corresponding diselenolato dianion to group-10 metals are reported. We describe an efficient and straightforward procedure that bypasses the isolation of the malodorous and airsensitive diselenol and starts with the diselenide and an appropriate group-10 metal complex bearing phosphane and chlorido ligands. A series of complexes with various monoand bidentate phosphanes is prepared and characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and elemental analysis. Furthermore, the structure of most complexes is studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction to establish their supramolecular arrangement in the solid state. Con-