Electrocrystallisation of the p-electron donor dithiopheno-tetrathiafulvalene (DT-TTF) with maleonitrile dithiolate (mnt) ± metal (M) complexes gives rise to the new family of radical ion salts [(DT-TTF) 2 M(mnt) 2 ] (M Au, Pt, Ni), which are isostructural and crystallise in the monoclinic space group P2 1 /n forming regular segregated stacks of donor and acceptor molecules along the b axis. The DT-TTF stacks are paired and interact strongly through S´´´S contacts in a ladder-like motif. The three salts have quite high room-temperature electrical conductivities (9, 40 and 40 S cm À1 for M Au, Pt and Ni respectively) but their conductivity ± temperature dependencies differ. The Au salt has an activated conductivity at room temperature whereas the Ni and Pt salts are metal-like at room temperature and both exhibit a metal ± insulator transition around 120 K. These contrasting transport properties are accounted for by the differences in the transfer integrals along the DT-TTF stacks. The magnetic susceptibility of the salt with M Au, in which the [Au(mnt) 2 À ] anion is diamagnetic, can be fitted to a twolegged spin-ladder model. From diffuse X-ray scattering studies it is established that below 220 K the donors dimerise along the b stacking direction, and the spin carrier units in the ladder are identified as those formed by dimerised donors [(DT-TTF) 2 ]. . Observation in their EPR spectra of a single line which increases dramatically in width as the conductivity increases is evidence for the presence of two magnetic subsystems which interact in the salts (M Ni, Pt) with paramagnetic [M(mnt) 2 ] À ions.