A novel family of four 1-bromo-2,6-bis­{[(λ⁵-phosphanyl­idene)imino]­meth­yl}benzene ligands has been synthesized and each ligand has been com­plexed with nickel(II). The phosphinimine substituents incrementally change from all-phenyl to all-cyclo­hexyl across this family and these ligands represent a useful opportunity to investigate the impact of changing sterics on com­plex structure and reactivity.