A series of square planar palladium and platinum iminophosphonamides [(η 3 -allyl)M{Ph 2 P(N-p-C 6 H 4 R) 2 }] (1a-d, M = Pd; 2a, M = Pt), having N-aryls of various electronic properties (R = OMe, Me, iPr, COOEt), have been synthesized and structurally characterized to reveal the correlation between the electronic properties of the N-substituents and the geometry of the MNPN metallacycle. The experimental values of the MNPN bending angles and the pyramidalization at the N-atoms were compared to the calculated ones for 1a-d and for the amidin- [a]