The palladium-catalyzed telomerization of 1,3-butadiene with alcohols has been studied in presence of palladium and imidazolium salts, which form in situ carbene ligands. Among the different imidazolium salts tested 1,3-dimesitylimidazolium chloride (7), 1,3-bis(ferrocenylmethyl)benzimidazolium tetraphenylborate (12) and 1,3-bis(2-ferrocenylethyl)benzimidazolium bromide (13) gave the best yields of the desired octadienyl ethers. Significantly improved regioselectivities for the linear octadienylethers are obtained in the reaction of 1,3-butadiene and methanol compared to the previously optimized palladium/triphenylphosphine catalyst. Using n-butanol and iso-propanol the palladium carbene catalysts lead to a considerable increase in the corresponding telomerization products compared to standard palladium/triphenylphosphine catalysts. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.