In addition, the net moment is out of plane for NiCl 2 (pym) and NiCl 2 (btd) and so will produce a larger MCA than the in plane net moment found for the Fe(II) compounds. This together likely explains the much larger coercive fields. It is notable that the related thiocyanate compound, Ni(NCS) 2 (pym) 2 which has only M-pym-M connectivity, is also a weak ferromagnet with smaller, but still large H C = 0.9 T. The direct analogues Ni(NCS) 2 (pym) and Fe(NCS) 2 (pym) are antiferromagnets, as the M(NCS) 2 chains are antiferromagnetic, unlike the MCl 2 chains. The large canting found in FeCl 2 (pym) parallels the compositionally similar (indeed, FeCl 2 (pym) was found to be a common impurity) but structurally distinct FeCl 2 (pym) 2 , which has only Fe-pym-Fe connections and adopts a 3D diamondoid structure. Despite the large differences in structure, these two compounds have similar magnetic properties, with M r = 0.28(1)µ B for FeCl 2 (pym) 2 and M r = 0.31(1)µ B for FeCl 2 (pym), suggesting care is required to ensure purity. FeCl 2 (pym) does however have an order of magnitude larger hysteresis, H C = 0.2(1) T vs H C = 0.015 T and a twofold larger magnetic ordering temperature, T N = 10.5(5) K vs T N = 6.5 K.