An efficient and concise method for the construction of various O-glycosidic bonds by a palladium-catalyzed reaction with a 3-O-picoloyl glucal has been developed. The stereochemistry of the anomeric center derives from either an inner-sphere or outer-sphere pathway. Harder nucleophiles, such as aliphatic alcohols and sodium phenoxides give bproducts, and a products result from using softer nucleophiles, such as phenol.Recent advances in our understanding of the indispensable roles of carbohydrates in all major life forms over the past decades have generated a great demand to synthesize these complex biomolecules. Hence, efficient glycosylation methods through the usage of little to no activators are highly sought after, especially one that offers high yields and stereoselectivities.[1] At present, palladium-catalyzed O-glycosylation [2] with glycals as donors [3][4][5] has received less attention compared to traditional glycosyl donors, [6] mainly because of the difficulty in generating the palladium/p-allyl intermediates from the electron-rich glycal scaffold and the low reactivity. [7] Recent reports focused on the use of trichloroacetimidate [8] as a directing group [9] and a zinc reagent [10] was chosen to soften the O-nucleophiles (Scheme 1 a). However, the rearrangement by-products [3b, 11] reduced the yields and additives often complicate the reaction process. Another promising directing group was O-picoloyl which is reported to strongly coordinate metal centers [12] as well as undergo selective glycosylation with pyranosyl donors through hydrogen-bond assistance (Scheme 1 b). [13] In the majority of palladium-catalyzed glycosylation reactions, the selectivity could be controlled by either the nature of the ligand [3a] or palladium source. [14] In contrast, the poor affinity of the O nucleophile for the metal center also played an important role in the stereochemical outcome. As demonstrated by Tsuji and Trost, [15] softer nucleophiles prefer an outer-sphere mechanism in which nuclephilic substitution from opposite face of palladium complex is the dominant pathway. Harder nucleophiles, on the contrary, directly attack the metal center with subsequent reductive elimination to form the product (Scheme 1 c).[16] To investigate the effect of the above factors in the reaction with a specific glycal system, we proposed a palladium-catalyzed glycosylation strategy with an O-picoloyl moiety as a directing group at the C3-position of a glycal-type donor (Scheme 1 d).First, the picoloyl glucal donor 1 was prepared from 4,6-O-(para-methoxy)benzylideneglucal and picolinic acid. For optimizing the reaction conditions, the soft nucleophile 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenol (2 a) was chosen as the acceptor.[17]The reaction was expected to proceed through an outersphere pathway with the palladium approaching the allylic system from the b face. Hence, the a-product 3 a should be the major isomer (see Scheme 2). The optimized reaction conditions with soft nucleophiles, that is, phenols, were found to be 10 % [Pd(PPh 3 ) 4...