Tetranuclear magnesium complexes with chelating alkoxo ligands have been synthesized with the aim of investigating coordinatively unsaturated magnesium sites able to bind TiX4 (X = Cl, OR), of the type necessary for the formation of the active centers in polymerization catalysts. The magnesium compound [Mg4(mu3,eta2-ddbfo)2(mu,eta2-ddbfo)2(mu,eta1-ddbfo)2(eta1-ddbfo)2] x 2CH2Cl2 (1) (ddbfo = 2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethyl-7-benzofuranoxide) was prepared by the reaction of MgBu2 with ddbfoH in dichloromethane. Complex 1 exists as a centrosymmetric tetranuclear species with two different types of magnesium centers corresponding to octahedral MgO6 and trigonal bipyramidal MgO5 geometry. Compound 1 is monoclinic, space group P2(1/c), with a = 12.053(2) A, b = 13.323(3) A, c = 17.069(3) A, beta = 98.50(3) degrees , and Z = 4. The reaction of 1 with methanol in tetrahydrofuran (THF) gave compound [Mg4(mu3-OMe)2(mu,eta2-ddbfo)2(mu,eta1-ddbfo)2(eta1-ddbfo)2(CH3OH)5] x CH3OH x THF (2). During this reaction one of the two five-coordinate MgO5 centers in 1 is completed by a methanol molecule and becomes octahedral in 2. Species 2 belongs to the P2(1/n) monoclinic space group, with a = 13.323(3) A, b = 20.768(4) A, c = 27.584(6) A, beta = 104.26(3) degrees , and Z = 4. Compound [Mg4(mu3,eta2-thffo)2(mu,zeta2-thffo)2(mu,eta1-thffo)2[mu-OTi(DIPP)3]2] x 2CH2Cl2 (3) is formed as a result of substitution of two thffo (thffo = 2-tetrahydrofurfuroxide) ligands bonded to the five-coordinate magnesium atom in [Mg4(thffo)8] by bulky OTi(DIPP)3 (DIPP = diisopropylphenolate) groups. Crystals of 3 are monoclinic, space group P2(1/n), with a = 17.069(3) A, b = 18.421(4) A, 17.815(4) A, beta = 90.77(3) degrees , and Z = 4. The X-ray crystal structures of complexes 1-3 are discussed in terms of explaining the role of the coordinatively unsaturated magnesium site in chiral catalyst active center formation.