The interest in the oxo-enol tautomerism of 1,3-dioxo compounds is justified by their usefulness in many synthetic fields. A series of new 1,3-bis(1-adamantyl)propan-1,3-diones with a variably substituted phenyl ring at the C2 position was prepared either by the reaction of an appropriate Grignard reagent with adamatane-1-carbonyl chloride or by S E Ar on the unsubstituted 1,3-bis(1-adamantyl)-2-phenylpropan-1,3-dione. In addition to the single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of three of the prepared compounds, the experimental 1 H and 13 C NMR, IR and Raman spectroscopic data were assigned and compared to those obtained by DFT computations. In the solid state, the syn-dioxo forms were exclusively observed, which are shown to also predominate in CHCl 3 solutions. The analysis of the Hirshfeld surface revealed that H⋯H and O⋯H contacts dominate the intermolecular interactions in the solid state, whereas π⋯π stacking plays a marginal role.