Coordination of benzylamine to the [Tp'W(CO)(PhC(2)Me)](+) moiety activates the amine for stepwise oxidation by sequential hydride/proton removal steps. Each metal complex along the stepwise reaction path (amine, amido, imine, azavinylidene, and nitrile) has been isolated and characterized. The structure of the imine complex [Tp'W(CO)(PhC(2)Me)(NH double bond CHPh)][BF4] (4) has been confirmed by an X-ray diffraction study. Complex 4 crystallizes in the space group P2(1)/c (Z = 4, a = 13.790(3) Angstrom, b = 13.225(3) Angstrom, c = 19.150(4) Angstrom, beta = 108.769(1)degrees, R = 3.5%, R(w) = 4.4%), and key geometric features include a W-N dative bond length of 2.135(6) Angstrom to the imine nitrogen and a W-N-C angle of 129.7(5).