In this concept article we present the syntheses and application of homo and heterodinuclear 'Pacman' compounds. This architecture implies that two metal coordination fragments are brought in close vicinity to each other via a covalent linkage to either support energy transfer between the two units or cooperative transformation of a substrate. Nature has shown that the combination of, in particular two different metal units, can dramatically improve the efficiency of small molecule activation. We exemplify this strategy for the activation of water, dioxygen and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, we present artificial systems in which a positive effect on the catalytic performance because of the combination of two (different) metal centers could be observed. Thus, Pacman-type compounds are very well suited as structural and functional models for their biological counterparts.