The isolation of 3,6,9,12-tetraazatetradecane-1,14-diamine (linear isomer of pentaethylenehexamine, linpen) from a technical polyamine mixture is described. In methanol, linpen acts as a hexadentate ligand towards cadmium(II). The solid compounds [Cd(linpen)](BPh4)2 (1), [Cd(linpen)](BPh4)2•2 DMSO (2) and [Cd(linpen)](BF4)2 (3) have been isolated and characterized by elemental analysis, spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction. The 113Cd NMR resonance of 1 is at 351 ppm (0.30 M in DMSO-d6, standard: 0.10 M Cd(ClO4)2 in D2O). 2 and 3 have been structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. 2: C 2/c; a = 19.337(1)Å, b = 17.937(1)Å, c = 18.584(1)Å, β = 111.54(1)°; Z = 4, R = 0.034, Rw = 0.033.3: P21/n; a = 8.607(1)Å, b = 14.851(2)Å, c = 15.703(2)Å, ß = 91.21(2)°; Z = 4,R = 0.083, Rw = 0.072. Both compounds contain discrete [Cd(linpen)]2+ complexes. The hexamine wraps around the metal ion in a helical manner. This results in a strong distortion of the coordination polyhedron. The mean Cd-N bond lengths are 2.38Å and 2.37Å for 2 and 3, respectively. Models for MN6 centers in metal-polyethyleneimine (PEI) complexes are derived from the structure of [Cd(linpen)]2+. For example, loops at the MN6 site in molecules of linear PEI are proposed.