The hydrolysis of 3,4-dimethylphospholium salts by thallium ethylate in alcohol yields exclusively the corresponding dienylphosphine oxides by ring opening in the general case. However when one of the phosphorus substituents is benzyl, the dienylphosphine oxide becomes the minor product of the hydrolysis, the major product being the 3-methyl-4-methylene-2-phospholene oxide which results from the cleavage of the P—CH2Ph bond with isomerization of one of the double bonds of the phosphole ring. Deuterolysis of benzylphospholium salts shows that the isomerization does not take place before the hydrolysis. Attempted reduction of the P=O bond of dienylphosphine oxides by phenylsilane yields hydrogenated products. On the contrary, the P=O → P=S conversion by P4S10 occurs without destruction of the dienic system. High yields of diene–Fe(CO)3 complexes are obtained by reaction with Fe3(CO)12. When the two phosphorus substituents are different, two diastereoisomeric complexes are obtained.