We have shown that gold(II) complexes with bidentate and tridentate ligands can be generated in the gas phase by eliminations of halogen radicals from the gold(III) halogen precursors. We have further explored spectroscopic and electronic properties of the [(bipy)Au II X] + complexes in detail, because these complexes are not fully coordinatively saturated and thus offer a possibility to study reactivity of gold(II) complexes in future. The results show that the interaction of gold(II) with the ancillary ligand bipy is analogous to that of copper(II). Also electronic spectra of the gold(II) complexes are rather similar to those of the analogous copper(II) complexes. The absorption maxima in the spectra are blue-shifted for the gold complexes suggesting that the color of [(bipy)Au II Br] + should be orange-red and that of [(bipy)Au II Cl] + should be cyan.