The synthesis and the structure of the new potentially heptadentate ligand 1,3-bis-(3-oxo-3-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-propionyl)-2-methoxybenzene (H5L) is described. The reaction in pyridine or DMF of this ligand with various M(AcO)2 salts (M = NiII, CoII, MnII) leads to very different products depending on the metal. Thus, the dinuclear complexes [M2(H3L)2(py)4] (M = NiII, 1; CoII, 2) or the linear zigzag tetranuclear clusters [Mn4(H2L)2(AcO)2(py)5] (3) and [Mn4(H2L)2(AcO)2(dmf)4] (4) have been synthesized and characterized crystallographically. Slow oxidation of complex 3 leads to the formation of the novel mixed-valence linear complex [Mn3(HL)2(py)6] (5), displaying an unprecedented asymmetric MnIIIMnIIIMnII topology. The coordination geometry of complexes 1 to 5 has been analyzed and discussed by means of continuous shape measures. Magnetic measurements of 3 and 5 demonstrate that the metals within these complexes weakly interact magnetically with coupling constants of J1 = -1.13 cm-1 and J2 = -0.43 cm-1 (S = 0) for complex 3 and J1 = -5.4 cm-1 and J2 = -0.4 cm-1 (S = 5/2) for complex 5 (using the H = -Sigma2JijSiSj convention). These results are consistent with X-band EPR measurements on these compounds.