A coordination compound of nickel(II) benzoate with nicotinamide [Ni(C 6H5COO)2(L)2(H2O) 2] (I) (L is nicotinic acid amide) is synthesized and studied by IR spectroscopy. Its crystal structure is solved by X-ray crystallography. The crystals of compound I are monoclinic: a = 7.152 Å, b = 18.266 Å, c = 10.341 Å, β = 109.24°, V = 1275.4 Å3, Z = 2, space group P21/c. Structural units of a crystal of I are centrosymmetric octahedral complex molecules. The coordination environment of the Ni atom contains two O atoms (Ni-O(1) 2.066(2) Å) and two N atoms (Ni-N(1) 2.091(2) Å) of the monodentate-coordinated benzoate anions and nicotinamide molecules, respectively, as well as two O atoms of the H 2O molecules (Ni-O(1w) 2.110(2) Å). © Pleiades Publishing, Inc., 2006.