[en] The ease of interaction of Ni(0) complexes with organic substrates has been shown to depend upon both the ligands on nickel and the solvent. The presence of α,α'-bipyridyl with the Ni(0) complex and the alkyne led to the isolation of a nickelacyclopropene, an observation in accord with the recently proposed metallocyclic pathway for the Ni(0)-catalyzed trimerization of alkynes. Allylic and benzylic ethers and epoxides have been observed to undergo oxidative insertion of Ni(0) into their C-O bonds with solvent (TMEDA > THF (tetrahydrofuran) > Et₂O > C₆H₆) and ligand (Et₃P (tripthyl phosphine) > Ph₃P (triphenyl phosphine); α,α'-bipy > COD) effects consistent with an electron-transfer attack by Ni(0). With such sulfur heterocycles as dibenzothiophene, phenoxathiin, phenothiazine, and thianthrene, a 1:1 admixture of (COD)₂Ni with α,α'-bipyridyl gave as the principal product the desulfurized, ring-contracted cyclic product