A general palladium-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of aryl and heteroarylbromides has been developed in the presence of bulky monodentate phosphines. Studies of the butoxycarbonylation of three model substrates revealed the advantages of di-1-adamantyl-n-butylphosphine compared to other ligands. In the presence of this catalyst system various bromoarenes provided the corresponding benzoic acid derivatives