Introduced in 1999 by Kondo et al., [1] lithium di-tert-butyltetramethylpiperidinozincate (LiTMP-zincate) is a highly chemoselective base for directed ortho-metalation (DoM) of alkyl benzoates, alkyl benzamides, and related azaaromatics. [2,3] This important reagent is but one of a growing number of alkali-metal zincate compounds that are attracting much attention from synthetic chemists in respect of their often special reactivities/selectivities, [4] and in certain cases, catalytic action [5] towards organic substrates. Much of our knowledge of these synthetic applications comes at the end of the reaction sequence, when all active metal-organic materials have been exhausted, [6] and is usually derived from isolated, metal-free products obtained by the in situ interception of metalated intermediates by electrophilic quenching. Scheme 1 illustrates this method for the sequential orthometalation/iodination of N,N-diisopropylbenzamide by a LiTMP-zincate/I 2 combination, [1] a reaction sequence that is relevant to the present study. In general, surprisingly little well-defined information exists on the chemistry taking place "at the coalface", that is, about the natures of the starting alkali-metal zincate reagents themselves and the metalated intermediates they generate prior to the final, electrophilic quenching, step. To fully understand this chemistry and develop it rationally, such information is indispensable, particularly in the case of LiTMP-zincate and related ambident reagents which in theory could exhibit either alkyl or amido (or both) reactivity towards organic substrates. In the preceding Communication in this issue we discussed the structures of the TMP-zincate reagent [(thf)Li(m-tmp)(mtBu)Zn(tBu)] and the related tertiary aromatic amide complex [{(iPr) 2 NC(Ph)(=O)}Li(m-tmp)(m-tBu)Zn(tBu)], thus providing valuable structural information on zincate bases prior to them taking part in metalation reactions. [7] Herein, in reporting the first application of a sodium TMP-zincate reagent in directed ortho-metalation, we shed light on the selective ligand transfer effecting ortho-metalation of N,Ndiisopropylbenzamide, by successfully isolating and crystallographically characterizing the ortho-metalated "intermediate". Furthermore, by similarly elucidating the ortho-metalated structure generated by the analogous lithium TMPzincate system (not the original Kondo reagent but a new TMEDA-complexed variant), we have uncovered an intriguing "alkali-metal effect", as it transpires that the sodium zincate and lithium zincate reagents behave differently towards the aromatic tertiary amide. We also discuss how these mixed-metal ortho-metalated structures deviate in Scheme 1. Synthesis of N,N-diisopropyl-2-iodobenzamide by a standard metalation/electrophilic-interception strategy.