Group 13 complexes featuring the imide ligand, [NR] 2-, have attracted significant recent attention (particularly in the case of aluminium) both as probes of potential M-N multiple bonding, and as precursors to materials offering applications in H2 storage or as semiconductors. Thermolytic loss of H2 (or other small organic molecules) from amine adducts or metal amides was initially exploited synthetically; more recently, reactions of aluminium(I) reagents, Ln(X)Al, with organo-azides, RN3, have been developed, which proceed via release of N2 and net oxidation of the metal centre to Al(III). Structurally, the high polarity of the Al-N bond provides a strong thermodynamic incentive for aggregation, and terminal imide complexes of the type Ln(X)Al(NR) are often very labile, undergoing a range of onward reactions, including oligomerisation, ligand activation, or uptake of a further equivalent of azide. Isolated imides of this type are therefore rare, and have been obtained only when very bulky aryl azides are employed (Figure ). As such, the first example of an aluminium imide featuring both two-coordinate aluminium and nitrogen atoms (V) was isolated by employing extremely bulky terphenyl ligands at both centres. Another type of Al(I) precursor that has been employed in this chemistry are anionic aluminium(I) ('aluminyl') reagents, [AlX2] -, which give rise to negatively charged aluminium imide complexes, [X2Al(NR)] -stabilised through secondary interactions (typically) with alkali metal counter ions. Advances in aluminyl chemistry, mean that these anionic imide systems have formed the basis for a range of recent studies of small molecule reactivity. In preliminary reactivity studies, K2[VII]2 has been shown to be capable of cleaving strong bonds: activating H2 via 1,2-addition across the Al-N bond, or taking up two equivalents of CO via C-O cleavage and C-C bond-forming steps to generate a fourmembered AlOCC ring, featuring a pendant imine function (K2[X]2, Scheme 1). K2[VII]2 also undergoes cycloaddition reactions, and acts as a transfer reagent for the [NDipp] 2-function towards a range of unsaturated oxygen-containing substrates. As such, the conversion (by cycloaddition chemistry) of CO2, N2O and PhCHO to DippNCO, DippN3 and PhCHNDipp, respectively, has been demonstrated. In similar fashion, Coles has reported the [2+2] cycloaddition reaction between imide K2[VIa]2 and CO2, affording an isolable aluminium carbamate complex. Here we report the first examples of isolable terminal aluminium and gallium imides bearing a heteroatom substituent at nitrogen, and investigation of the effects of the substituent on electronic structure and reactivity. In particular, the reactivity of these imide systems towards CO and N2O is investigated, and we demonstrate that they can act as transfer reagents for the [N] 3- ion.