Selective formation of 4-phosphanylated 1,2-dialkyl imidazole-2-thiones 3a–f has been obtained via a lithiation followed by phosphanylation reaction. The reactivity of 3a–f was examined towards oxidation and complexation reactions. All products were unambiguously characterized by elemental analyses, spectroscopic and spectrometric methods including X-ray analysis (3a, 3b, 4b, 4d, 5b, 6a and 6d).