Tris(oxinato) complexes of aluminium(III) and gallium(III) have been prepared from 8-oxyquinoline (OxH) and its six C-methylated derivatives from aqueous solutions of the metal chlorides or nitrates and an ammonium acetate buffer. Crystalline monohydrates or (upon precipitation with methanol) mono-methanol adducts are obtained. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies reveal a meridional tris(chelate) structure for the two (isomorphous) tris(oxinates) Al(Ox)3 · MeOH and Ga(Ox)3 · MeOH with distinct differences in the individual dimensions. (The MeOH molecules form strong hydrogen bonds with one of the oxygen atoms.) For these species and those of the substituted ligands 3-MeOx, 4-MeOx, 5-MeOx, 6-MeOx, and 7-MeOx a similar meridional structure was confirmed by low temperature 1H NMR spectroscopy, which showed three inequivalent sets of ligands in each case. The collaps of these signals at elevated temperatures indicates a ligand-equilibrating process, with the mechanism probably comprising a dissociation of a pyridine function from the metal, to give a fluctional pentacoordinate species with free rotation about the intact M—O bond, and an M—N recombination at a random octahedral site. For the 2-MeOx ligands, however, the facial structure is preferred at lower temperature, but with the meridional isomer present as a component of an equilibrium. This indicates the strong steric influence of substituents in 2-position of the 8-oxy-quinoline.