The cis, cis, cis-1, 2, 3, 4-tetrakis (diphenylphosphinomethyl)-cyclopentan e/[PdCl (C3H5)] 2 system catalyses allylic amination in good yields with a very high substrate/catalyst ratio; a turnover number of 680 000 and a turnover frequency of 8125 h− 1 can be obtained for the addition of dipropylamine to allyl acetate in the presence of this catalyst.