The isolation of ions in the gas phase allowed us to study properties of gold(II) complexes with the [(L)Au II X] + speciation (L = bidentate or tridentate ligand, X = halogen) in detail. The gold(II) complexes can be prepared by reduction of gold(III) precursors. The challenge in this preparation is a possibility of an easy direct reduction of gold(III) complexes to gold(I) complexes. We have explored the possibility to prepare the gold(II) complexes by sequential eliminations of halogen radicals from the [(L)Au III X2] + precursors in the gas phase for various L and X combinations. The experiments clearly showed that the ligands L that stabilize gold(I) complexes do not favour the formation of the desired gold(II) complexes. This includes all monodentate ligands that easily support favourable linear coordination of gold(I) complexes and ligands with "soft" donor atoms (especially P-based). The most favourable ligands for the formation of gold(II) halido complexes were N,N-bidentate and N,N,N-tridentate ligands.