The crystal structures of two single-enantiomer amidophosphoesters with an (O)2P(O)(N) skeleton, i.e. diphenyl [(R)-(+)-α-methylbenzylamido]phosphate, (I), and diphenyl [(S)-(–)-α-methylbenzylamido]phosphate, (II), both C20H20NO3P, are reported. In both structures, chiral one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded architectures, along [010], are mediated by N—H…OP interactions. The statistically identical assemblies include the noncentrosymmetric graph-set motif C(4) and the compounds crystallize in the chiral space group P21. As a result of synergistic co-operation from C—H…O interactions, a two-dimensional superstructure is built including a noncentrosymmetric R44(22) hydrogen-bonded motif. A Cambridge Structural Database survey was performed on (O)2P(O)(N)-based structures in order to review the frequency of space groups observed in this family of compounds; the hydrogen-bond motifs in structures with chiral space groups and the types of groups inducing chirality are discussed. The 2,3JX–P (X = H or C) coupling constants from the NMR spectra of (I) and (II) have been studied. In each compound, the two diastereotopic C6H5O groups are different, which is reflected in the different chemical shifts and some coupling constants.

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