"Unsaturated transition metal complexes are important in many stoichiometric and catalytic bond cleavage reactions. Therefore, low-coordinate transition metal complexes coordinated with sterically hindered ancillary ligands have been used for C-H activation, N2, and CO bond cleavage reactions. In this thesis, the coordination chemistry and reactivity of low-coordinate [beta]-diketiminate cobalt and iron complexes toward bond-breaking and bond-making reactions is explored and presented. In chapter 2, the unsaturated complex LtBuCo (LtBu = bulky [beta]-diketiminate ligand) is reported. The [beta]-diketiminate ligand in LtBuCo was ligated to cobalt in a slipped [kappa]N, [eta]6-arene mode. Addition of Lewis bases to LtBuCo yielded rapid and reversible conversion to the [kappa]2N, N' mode. The rate law of ligand binding to LtBuCo was first-order in both cobalt and substrate concentration. Therefore, ligand coordination was consistent with an associative or interchange mechanism that either preceded or occurred simultaneously to [beta]-diketiminate isomerization. In addition, LtBuCo cleaved Sn-F and aryl C-F bonds, and homolytic Sn-F bond cleavage yielded [LtBuCo([mu]-F)]2. Aryl C-F bond cleavage by LtBuCo yielded [LtBuCo([mu]-F)]2 and a cobalt(II) aryl complex in a 1:2 molar ratio. [LtBuCo([mu]-F)]2 reacted with triethylsilane (Et3SiH) to give pure hydride complex [LtBuCo([mu]-H)]2, which has different properties than previously reported. In chapter 3, treatment of LMeFeNNFeLMe with 4-tert-butylpyridine (tBupy) displaced the dinitrogen ligand to give LMeFe(tBupy)2 which is formally iron(I). However, LMeFe(tBupy)2 can be defined as high-spin iron(I) with a resonance form that is high-spin iron(II) antiferromagnetically coupled to a radical on the tBupy ligand. In contrast, treatment of LMeFeNNFeLMe with pyridine (py) resulted in the reductive coupling of pyridine via C-C bond formation to give {LMeFepy}2([mu]-C10H10N2), a complex with a bridging 4,4'-bis(hydridopyridyl) ligand. {LMeFepy}2([mu]-C10H10N2) was diiron(II) in the solid state, but C-C bond formation was rapidly reversible as the solution properties were consistent with LMeFe(py)2. Chapter 4 reports new synthetic routes to iron hydride complexes with higher purity than previously achieved. The binuclear oxidative addition of H2 to a transient iron(I) intermediate yielded [LtBuFe([mu]-H)]2. This method was adapted for the synthesis of [LMeFe([mu]-H)]2, and the deuterated isotopologues, [LtBuFe([mu]-D)]2 and [LMeFe([mu]-D)]2, were synthesized using D2. The H/D exchange of hydride ligands between isotopologues and H2/D2 was observed"--Page ix-x.