By irradiation of methyl phenylglyoxylate (1) in benzene solution in presence of equimolar amounts of 2-aminopropenenitriles H2C=C(NR2)CN (3a - e, NR2 = morpholino, 1-pyrrolidinyl, 1-piperidinyl, hexamethyleneimino, heptamethyleneimino) the corresponding 2R∗,3R∗ head-to-head oxetanes 4a - e were obtained in moderate yields (11 - 52%) along with 2 - 28% of rac-dimethyl 2,3- diphenyltartrate (2). In presence of (S)-2-(2-methoxymethylpiperidin-1-yl)propenenitrile ((+)-3g) 1 is transformed into 26% of 2 and 33% of a mixture of diastereomeric oxetanes 4g,4’g in a ratio of 1.4 : 1 which could be improved to 2.5 : 1 by preparative layer chromatography. The absolute configuration of the major diastereomer 4g was unambiguously confirmed by a single crystal X-ray structure determination to be 2R,3R,2’S. Analogous photoadditions to benzil (5a), 4,4’-bis-(trifluoromethyl)benzil (5b) and 4,4’-dichlorobenzil (5c) with (+)-3g and its lower homologue (S)-2-(2-methoxymethylpyrrolidin- 1-yl)propenenitrile ((-)-3f) gave oxetanes only in low yield as detected by 1H NMR. Byproducts arise from competitive symmetrical α-cleavage of 5.