The insertion of carbon±carbon multiple bonds into car-bon±transition-metal bonds as a facile method of carbon± carbon bond formation is a very important fundamental reaction in transition-metal organometallic chemistry. [1] However, in contrast to the numerous reports regarding the insertion of carbon±carbon multiple bonds into carbon± transition-metal bonds, direct insertion of carbon±heteroatom multiple bonds, such as carbonyl and nitrile groups, without using stoichiometric organometallic reagents, has received scant attention. [1] The disadvantages of such insertion processes are that the carbon±heteroatom p bond is stronger than the carbon±carbon p bond, [2] and that electrophilic metals tend to form s complexes with the heteroatom of carbon± heteroatom multiple bonds, instead of p complexes, [3] which makes the insertion unfavorable. Such obstacles make this area of research particularly challenging. Recently, some examples of the insertion of carbonyl groups into latetransition-metal±carbon bonds, for example with Rh [4] and Ni, [5] have been reported, although most of these require the use of stoichiometric organometallic reagents or additives. In palladium chemistry, a limited number of examples catalyzed by Pd 0 have been reported by Vicente, [6] Yamamoto, [7a±d] Yang, [8a±c] and Larock. [8d,e] To the best of our knowledge, there are no examples of the direct insertion of a carbonyl or nitrile group into a carbon±palladium bond by reactions catalyzed by a palladium(II) species through the acetoxypalladation of alkynes.The fact that a Pd II species is formed after quenching an oxygen±palladium bond through protonolysis, even in Pd 0catalyzed reactions, suggests that a redox system must be involved in the reported Pd 0 -catalyzed carbonyl insertion reactions. It occurs to us that a Pd II -catalyzed reaction may be advantageous for such insertion reactions. Recently, we reported a Pd II -catalyzed cyclization reaction of enyne esters initiated by the acetoxypalladation of alkynes which utilized bipyridine as a ligand. [9] This novel catalytic system encouraged us to develop new reactions using carbon±heteroatom multiple bonds as insertion species, instead of carbon±carbon double bonds. Herein, we wish to exhibit another mechanism involving the cyclization of alkynes with carbonyl or nitrile groups through the acetoxypalladation of alkynes, followed by the insertion of carbon±heteroatom multiple bonds into the carbon±palladium bond and subsequent protonolysis.Our investigation of the reaction conditions began by using dec-2-ynyloxyacetaldehyde (1, 0.5 mmol), Pd(OAc) 2 (5 mol %) as the catalyst, and 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy, 6 mol %) as the ligand in acetic acid (5 mL) at 80 8C (Scheme 1). The reaction afforded products 2±4 (2:3:4 20:40:40) in 78 % total yield. Control experiments confirmed that 4 can partially transform into either 3 (by acetylation) or 2 (by transformation) in this system. Reactions with ketones gave the corresponding tertiary alcohols as a single product in good yield using acetic aci...