Treatment of the imines [ArNCH-CHNAr] and [ArNCH-2-py] (Ar=2,6-Pr 2 i C 6H 3) with AlMe 3 in toluene affords the highly crystalline complexes [AlMe 2{ArN-CH 2-C(Me)NAr}] ( 1) and [AlMe 2{ArN-CH(Me)-2-py}] ( 2); the molecular structures of 1 and 2 show that the aluminiums are bonded to imino-amide and pyridyl-amide ligands respectively arising from methyl group transfer from the aluminium centre to the backbone carbon of the imine ligand.