Hydrogen bonding and crystal packing play major roles in determining the conformations of ethyl methyl 2-(triphenylphosphoranylidene)malonate, Ph(3)P=C(CO(2)CH(3))CO(2)CH(2)CH(3) or C(24)H(23)O(4)P, (I), and dimethyl 2-(triphenylphosphoranylidene)malonate, Ph(3)P=C(CO(2)CH(3))(2) or C(23)H(21)O(4)P, (II). In (I), the acyl O atom of the ethyl ester group is anti to the P atom, while the O atom of the methyl ester group is syn. In (II), the dimethyl diester is a 1:1 mixture of anti-anti and syn-anti conformers.