The starting point of the research was the reaction of chloroacetyl chloride with biphenyl in the presence of aluminum chloride. 4-Biphenylhydroximoyl chloride (HL) was obtained by reacting synthesized 4-(chloroacetyl)biphenyl with alkyl nitride. Four new substituted 4-(alkylaminoisonitrosoacetyl)biphenyles (ketooximes) were prepared by reacting 4-biphenylhydroximoyl chloride with corresponding amines in EtOH. The following amines were used for ligands: p-toluidine, p-chloroaniline, pyrrolidine, and 4-aminoacetophenone. Mononuclear complexes with a metal-ligand ratio of 1: 2 were prepared using cadmium(II), cobalt(II), copper(II), nickel(II), lead(II), and zinc(II) salts. These compounds have been characterized by elemental analyses, AAS, infrared spectra and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The ligands have been further characterized by H-1 NMR. The results suggest that the ketooximes act as bidentate ligands which bond metal ions through the oxime and carbonyl oxygen.