The cross-coupling reaction of organometallic reagents with organic halides and related electrophiles represents one of the most straightforward methods for carbon-carbon bond formation (Scheme 1-1). Despite its inherent simplicity and significance, however, its synthetic utility was very limited until the mid-1960s. Mainly Grignard reagents and organolithiums were used in earlier examples. In such cases, organic halides are mostly limited to alkyl (C,3) halides. Furthermore, the use of organometals containing Mg and Li is often complicated and limited by their generally low chemoselectivity. Although advances in organocopper chemistry [l] over the past three decades have solved many of the difficulties associated with the use of Grignard reagents and organolithiums, a number of other problems have remained unsolved.In 1972, Kumada [2] and Corriu [3] independently reported that the reaction of Grignard reagents with alkenyl or aryl halides could be markedly catalyzed by Ni-phosphine complexes, e.g., Cl,Ni(PPh,),. Although many other transition-metal-catalyzed reactions of Grignard reagents with organic halides without the use of phosphines were known, the socalled Kharasch-type reactions [4], with the exception of the Cu-catalyzed procedures [5,6], were not well suited for cross-coupling due to various complications, including extensive cross-homo scrambling.The discovery of Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling was somewhat more subtle and evolutionary. During the 1975-1976 period, several groups of workers including the present authors' group published various results involving Pd-phosphine complexes. Thus, Cassar "71 reported the Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of aryl bromides and iodides with sodium acetylides generated in situ by mixing terminal alkynes with NaOMe in DMF (Scheme 1-2). The corresponding reaction using a Ni-phosphine complex did not proceed Catalytically. Similar reactions of alkynes, where the countercations in active species were most probably ammonium and/or Cu', were also reported by Heck [8] and Sonogashira [9] (Scheme 1-2).