A family of well-defined Fe II complexes of the type {BnN (N-CH 2 (CH 2) nN′-tert-butyl- imidazole-2-ylidene) 2} FeCl 2 (Bn= benzyl; n= 1 (1) or 2 (2)),{BnN (N-CH 2 (CH 2) nN′- methylbenzimidazole-2-ylidene) 2} FeCl 2 (n= 1 (3) or 2 (4)) and {BnN (N-CH 2 CH 2 CH 2- N′-methylbenzimidazole-2-ylidene) 2} FeBr 2 (5) has been synthesized. These complexes are rare examples of Fe species supported by bidentate NHC ligands. Complexes 2, 3, 4 ...