“…Although the action of phosphonium ylides and trialkyl phosphites on diphenyl-1,2,3-propanetrione is well established [1,2], their action on 2-substituted-1,3-diphenylpropanetrione (1) has hitherto not been investigated. This, together with our interest in organophosphorus chemistry [3][4][5][6][7][8], has stimulated us to investigate the behavior of 1,3-diphenyl-2-(phenylmethylene)-1,3-propanedione (1a) and 1,3-diphenyl-2-(phenylimino)-1,3-propanedione (1b) toward a number of Wittig reagents of types 2a-e. A comparative study of the behavior of 1a,b toward trialkyl phosphites 3a-c is also reported (Scheme 1).…”