The preparation and spectral and magnetic properties are reported for complexes of cobalt(II) and nickel(II) halides with imidazole (lz). The compounds Iz4NiX2(X = Cl, Br, or l), lz2NiX2(X = Cl or Br), Iz NiX2(X = Cl or Br), and lz CoCl2 possess essentially octahedral structures whilst lz2Nil2, Iz Nil2, lz2CoX2(X = Cl, Br, or l), and Iz CoX2(X = Br or l) are pseudotetrahedral. The product of fusing a 4 : 1 mole ratio of imidazole and cobalt(II) chloride has been shown to be an equimolar mixture of Iz6CoCl2 and lz2CoCl2. The M–lz stretching vibration occurs at a higher frequency in these complexes than the M–pyridine vibration in the corresponding pyridine complexes. The ligand field parameter Dq appears to be less for imidazole than for pyridine.