Am olecularly defined Ni II -complex catalyzing the chemoselective acetalization of aldehydes with alcohols under neutralc onditions is reported. The reactioni s general, efficient and showedawide substrate scope (including aliphatic aldehydes)a sw ell as excellent functional group tolerance. Reusability of the present nickel catalyst is also demonstrated.Development of new catalytic approaches, in particular,c atalysts based on cheap,e arth-abundant, non-precious metalsf or sustainable chemical synthesis is the key motivation in contemporary science. The carbonyl compounds such as aldehydes and ketones are the most significant functional groups in organic synthesis owing to their ubiquitous, andv ersatile reactivity.I nt he multi-stepo rganic transformations,ag reen protocol for the protection or maskingo fc arbonyl compounds that operate under neutralc onditions is highly required. In this regard, acetalization reaction using widespread alcohols hasa ttracted much interest. Acetals serve as an excellent protective group of carbonyl compounds [1] as well as they found various applicationsi nt he synthesis of chiral auxiliaries, steroids, flavoring agents, and pharmaceutical moieties. [2][3][4] In general, acetalization involves the condensation of carbonyl compounds with alcoholic substrates in the presence of Brçnsted/Lewis acid, mineral acid, or base catalysts. [5] However, these protocols often requireatoxic orthoformate as an alcohol source (for acetalization). Indeed,t hese approaches have inherentl imitations such as handling of corrosivea cid catalyst, high temperature, longer reaction time, and limited substrates scope. In recent times, variousc atalytic methods including or-ganocatalysts, [6a-f] photo-redox catalysts, [7a-c] and heterogeneous catalysts [8a-c] and transition-metal catalysis [9] have been reportedi nr eplacement of highly acidic conditions. Nevertheless, these methods require high catalystl oading and harsh reaction conditions.Recently,L yons et al. reported the acetalization of aldehydes in the presence of tropylium salt as organo-Lewisa cidc atalyst using triethyl orthoformate as alcohol source.T his methodr equiresh eating condition, longerr eactiont ime, and an excess amount of Na 2 SO 4 as the dehydrating agent for the cyclic acetalization. [10] Hudnall and co-workers reported antimony(V) catalyzed acetalization of aldehydesi nt he presence of as toichiometrica mount of either triethoxymethane or triethoxysilane, and the products can be purified by distillation processw hich limits the scope of this protocol for thermally stable substrates. [11] However, both of these methods require as toichiometric amount of toxic triethylo rthoformates and triethylo rthoformate/silicate, respectively.T hus, it would be of interest to develop as imple and eco-benign catalystt hat works under neutral and mild reaction conditions and avoid the use of toxic orthoformates. Here, we report am olecularly defined nickel(II) complex catalyzed acetalization of aldehydes using widespread alcohols. The re...