After a brief overview of the current development of carbeniophosphine ligands for applications in catalysis, in particular of imidazoliophosphines, a focus is given on the reference class of moderately flexible benzo-,diimidazolo-2,3,4,5,6,7-tris-annelated 3,6-diazaphosphepine derivatives with various exocyclic P-R substituents. The cases R = NMe 2 , N i Pr 2 are addressed by comparison to the known cases R = Ph, t Bu. After selective N,N'-dimethylation of the imidazole nitrogen atoms with MeOTf, further P-oxidation of the resulting dication with m-CPBA is shown to occur readily for R = N i Pr 2 , as previously reported for R = t Bu. In contrast, the same oxidative treatment of a parent neutral P-aminophosphepine is found to afford a cis/trans stereoisomeric mixture of the P-oxide. On the basis of line shape analyses of 1 H and 31 P NMR spectra between 313 and 373 K, the free enthalpy of activation of the stereo-conversion process is shown to be ca 17 kcal/mol. ROESY 1 H NMR experiments show that the major isomer exhibits a cis orientation of the NiPr 2 group and the phenylene bridge. The corresponding boat conformation of the diazaphosphepine ring is confirmed by X-ray crystallography. As in the R = t Bu series, the same boat conformation is observed in the crystal state of the dicationic oxide and neutral and dicationic P(III) parents. N N N N P NR 2 N N N N P NR 2 Me Me O O N N N N P NR 2 E E E = lone pair E = Me m-CPBA m-CPBA 2 MeOTf + N N N N P O NR 2 R = i Pr ² G°(298 K) = 17 kcal/mol