The sterically crowded isoindoline pincer ligand, 6'-MeLH, prepared by condensation of 4-methyl-2-aminopyridine and phthalonitrile, exhibits very different reaction chemistry with Cd2+, Zn2+, and Pd2+. Three different ligand coordination modes are reported, each dependent upon choice of metal ion. This isoindoline binds to Cd2+ as a charge-neutral, zwitterionic, bidentate ligand using imine and pyridine nitrogen atoms to form the eight-coordinate fluxional complex, Cd(6'-MeLH)(2)(NO3)(2). In the presence of Zn2+, however, loss of a pyridine arm occurs through solvolysis and tetrahedrally coordinated complexes are formed with coordination of pyrrole and pyridine nitrogen atoms. Reaction with Pd2+ produces the highly distorted, square planar complex Pd(6'-MeL)Cl in which a deprotonated isoindoline anion coordinates as a tridentate pyridinium NNC pincer ligand.