Dedicated to Professor Andre E. Merbach on the occasion of his 65th birthdayThe synthesis of a series of tetra-and pentadentate bispidine-type ligands (bispidine 3,7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane) ± tetradentate ligands are donor-substituted at C(2) and C(4), pentadentate ligands have an additional donor at N(3) or N(7), with pyridine, 2-methylpyridine, or quinoline donor moieties ± and of their Cu II complexes are reported, together with single-crystal structural analyses and solution studies (electrochemistry, electronic and EPR spectroscopy). Depending on the ligand geometry and on the co-ligands (solvent or counter anion), there are various structural forms (pseudo-Jahn ± Teller elongation along all three molecular axes), and the structural data are correlated with the spectroscopic and electrochemical parameters.Introduction. ± The transition-metal-ion coordination chemistry of bispidine-type ligands (bispidine 3,7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane; see L1 ± L12 for ligand structures discussed in this publication) has attracted some attention due to the salient structural properties [1 ± 3], high complex stabilities and uncommon metal-ion selectivities [4] and, in particular, because of their interesting reactivities [5 ± 9], specifically with respect to efficient [10] and tuneable [7] [8] substrate binding and activation. An important feature is that bispidine molecules are generally easy to prepare, and they are obtained in high yield [11 ± 14], and that mono-as well as dinucleating ligands with various donor sets in well-defined and rigid geometries may be prepared (bi-, tetra-, penta-, and hexadentate ligands, preorganized for planar, square-pyramidal and cisoctahedral coordination geometries) [15 ± 20].Due to the rigidity of the adamantane-derived bispidine backbone and the elasticity of the coordination geometry, interesting types of structural variations have been observed [1 ± 3] [21] [22]. In particular, for penta-and hexacoordinate Cu II complexes, it was possible to isolate and structurally characterize ± in dependence of i) the orthosubstituent of the pyridine donors at C(2) and C(4) (H or Me) [7], ii) the substituent at N(7) [3] [21], or iii) the co-ligands [22] ± complexes with the tetragonal elongation (pseudo-Jahn ± Teller axis) along any of the three molecular axes.So far, the chance to vary the donor set by a variation of the aldehyde and amine components in the two Mannich condensation steps (see Scheme) has not been used extensively. We, therefore, report here the syntheses of six new tetra-and pentadentate bispidine ligands with 2-methylpyridine and quinoline donors, and the structural, electrochemical, and spectroscopic properties of their Cu II complexes. The structural properties, specifically with respect to the mode of pseudo-Jahn ± Teller-type distortion,