A u.v.-vis spectrophotometric study of the adduct formation of the nickel(II) Schiff base complexes,([NiL]) where L = [3-methoxysalophen, N,N¢-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediimine] (1), [4-methoxysalophen, N,N¢-bis(4-methoxysalicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediimine] (2), [5-methoxysalophen, N,N¢-bis(5-methoxysalicylidene)-1,2-phenylenediimine] (3) and [Salophen, [N,N¢-bis(salicylaldehydo)-1,2-phenylenediimine] (4) as donors with R 2 SnCl 2 (R = methyl, phenyl and n-butyl) as acceptors have been investigated in chloroform, as solvent. Adducts have been characterized by 1 H, 13 C and 119 Sn NMR, IR and electronic spectroscopy and CHN elemental microanalysis. The formation constants and the thermodynamic free energies were measured using u.v.-vis spectrophotometry titration for 1:1 adduct formation at various temperatures (T = 278 to 308 K). The trend of the adduct formation of the nickel Schiff base complexes with a given tin acceptor decreases as follows: Nið3; 4; 5-MeOSalophenÞ>Ni(Salophen) and Nið4-MeOSalophenÞ>Nið3-MeOSalophenÞ>Nið5-MeOSalophenÞ