The cyanomethyl ligand is bent, with an anti arrangement with respect to the phenyl substituent across from the on the central phosphorus atom it is trans to. The C2-C1-Pd angle of 118.9(7)° is considerably larger than any of the other structurally characterized Pdcyanomethyl complexes; the C-C and C-N distances are also both slightly shorter than in the other complexes. These differences may be related to the cationic nature of 1, which may withdraw electron density from the ligand, leading to more neutral N=C=CH2 character rather than anionic NC-CH2 -character in the ligand.