Palladium allyl complexes have been extensively studied over the past decades owing to their relevance in homogeneous catalysis. They represent key intermediates in catalytic allylic substitution reactions (Tsuji-Trost reactions) and considerable efforts have been made to elucidate their solution structures and mechanistic behavior in detail. [1] 1,3-Diphenylpropenyl acetates and carbonates are the benchmark linear systems employed for the study of allyl palladium intermediates. [2] When cyclic substrates are concerned, cycloalk-2-enyl esters are often biased by undesired b-hydride elimination events, which critically affect the stability of the resulting metal complexes as they rapidly lead to the corresponding cycloalkyldiene byproducts. [3,4] To date, palladium allyl complexes derived from five-and four-memberedring systems have been virtually unexplored. [4] We recently reported a diastereodivergent synthesis of 3,4-disubstituted cyclobutenes through a deracemizing palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic alkylation. [5] In those studies, we uncovered unprecedented behavior of the allylic electrophiles (rac)-1 and (rac)-cis-2 in the presence of phosphino-oxazoline ligands L (Scheme 1): nucleophilic attack by stabilized carbanions (i.e. malonates, azlactones, b-ketoesters) at the putative h 3 -allyl intermediate took place to afford the trans-cyclobutene products in excellent levels of diastereo-and enantioselectivity.This unusual reactivity of four-membered cyclic systems in the presence of ligands L along with the lack of literature precedent in the field warranted further investigation. Herein we present our preliminary findings on the unique structure and reactivity of cyclobuten-3-yl palladium complexes as well as the unprecedented electrocyclic ring opening of an organopalladium derivative.The addition of stoichiometric amounts of L-Ph and [Pd(dba) 2 ] (dba = trans,trans-dibenzylideneacetone) to the substrate (rac)-cis-2 proceeded instantaneously at À30 8C (Scheme 2). The thus formed intermediate 3 is unstable at room temperature. Nevertheless, it could be extensively characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy at 10 8C as a h 1 -allyl complex (Scheme 2). The 13 C NMR spectrum was diagnostic for a h 1 -allyl ligand, with characteristic chemical shifts at 129.1, 147.9, and 46.0 ppm for C2, C3 and C4 (bearing Pd), respectively. [6] Consistent with literature precedence for the arrangement of ligands around square-planar Pd II centers, the h 1 -allyl moiety is located trans to the nitrogen donor of L-Ph, a ligand of weaker trans influence than phosphorus. [7] This configuration was determined by NMR analysis: the small coupling constant 2 J CP = 4.3 Hz indicates a cis relationship across the Pd center, [8] while the experimental NOE data for the 1 H atoms at positions 1 and 4 indicates an anti configuration of the substituents on the cyclobutene.Although h 3 /h 1 slippage of allyl ligands plays a major role in the Tsuji-Trost reaction and constitutes one of the critical issues in the control of regio-and ...