Chelatingdicarbenecomplexes of palladium(II) and platinum(II) catalyse at room temperature with 1% catalyst loading the reaction of ethyl phenylpropiolate with aromatic heterocycles to yield synthetically useful intermediates for fine chemicals without the need to use prefunctionalized substrates. The reaction outcome was found to be strongly dependent on the nature of the anionic ligands at the
heteroarenes such as pyrroles and indoles undergo addition reactions to C-C triplebonds in the presence of a catalytic amount of Pd(OAc)(2) under very mild conditions, affording cis-heteroarylalkenes in most cases. The cleavage of aromatic C-H bonds is the possible rate-determining step in CH(2)Cl(2), and the addition of heteroaromatic C-H bonds to C-C triplebonds is in a trans-fashion.