Several nonheme diiron enzymes have been found to be coordinated to four carboxylate ligands and two imidazole groups. These systems have been identified to have a significant biological role in the conversion of methane to methanol via the activation of dioxygen. A current research challenge in the field is the incorporation of these types of ligand interactions into well-defined metal compounds with the intension of developing enhanced catalytic and stoichiometric reactivity. It is proposed that tetraalkylguanidine ligands might interact with carboxylic acids coordinated to a metal center in a manner that might make it possible to synthesize accurate reactive models. The synthesis and characterization of a novel series of iron, cobalt and manganese complexes has been performed to examine the potential of this approach.