The coordination chemistry of bis (di-ortho-tolylphosphino) methane (dotpm) has been studied. It is an excellent chelating ligand and a range of low-valent mononuclear complexes have been prepared; cis-[M (CO) 4 (η2-dotpm)](M= Cr, Mo, W; 1-3),[CpRuCl (η2- dotpm)](4), and cis-[MX2 (η2-dotpm)](M= Pt, X= Cl, Br, I; 5a-5c, M= Pd, X= Cl; 6). The backbone protons are relatively acidic and can be deprotonated using n-BuLi or LiN ( ...