Department of Chemistry, University of Calicut, Calicut-673 635, Kerala, India Department of Chemistry, Unity Women's College, Manjeri-676 122, Kerala, India E-mail : mbummathur@rediffmail.com Manuscript received 2 January 2006, accepted 31 March 2006 A new series of diletoanllidcs, in which the keto groups are attached to olefinic linkages, have been synthesized and charactcrized. Their IR, 1H NMR and mass spectral data revealed that only one of the carbonyl groups is enollsed and engaged in illlrmuolccular hydrogen bonding. Neutral bidentate coordination of these compounds with NiII, CuII and ZnII has been established on the basis of analytical and spectral data.