The direct conversion of alkyle sters to ketones has been hindered by the sluggish reactivity of the starting materials and the susceptibility of the product towards subsequent nucleophilic attack. We have nowa chieved ac ross-coupling approach to this transformation using nickel, ab ulkyNheterocyclic carbene ligand, and alkylo rganoboron coupling partners.6 5a lkylk etones bearing diverse functional groups and heterocyclic scaffolds have been synthesized with this method. Catalyst-controlled chemoselectivity is observed for C(acyl)ÀOb ond activation of multi-functional substrates bearing other bonds prone to cleavage by Ni, including aryl ether,aryl fluoride,and N-Ph amide functional groups.Density functional theory calculations providemechanistic support for aNi 0 /Ni II catalytic cycle and demonstrate howstabilizing noncovalent interactions between the bulky catalyst and substrate are critical for the reactionssuccess.