The novel palladium phosphino-thioether P-S chelate complex, [PdCl2{MeSC6H4-2-(CH2PPh2)}] (3) is a highly efficient catalyst for the olefinic coupling of aryl bromo and iodo compounds to olefins under aerobic conditions, leading to more than 10(6) turnovers for the reactions with bromo and iodo benzenes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.