The title complex with benzilic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline monohydrate has been synthesized and characterized in the solvent mixture of water and methyl-alcohol. It falls into the triclinic, characteristic of the space group P1̄ with a=1.142 8(3) nm, b=1.638 8(4) nm, c=1.645 6(4) nm, α=74.428(5)°, β=84.205(5)°, γ=74.917(5)°, V= 2.8649(12) nm3, Dc=1.347 g-cm-3. Z=2, F(000)=1 216, the reliability factor R1=0.0689, wR2=0. 189 9. The crystal structure shows that the nickel atom is coordinated with six nitrogen atoms from the three phens, f...