Thesis advisor: James P. Morken / The catalytic allylation of aldehydes, ketones, and imines is a very useful reaction for the formation of a new carbon-carbon bond in synthetic organic chemistry. There have been several successful reports of catalytic asymmetric reactions that use aldehydes as the substrate. However, there have been very few successful examples with ketones. Herein, a nickel-catalyzed allylation of dienones with the pinacol ester of allylboronic acid is presented. Based on 3,3’-reductive elimination, the relationship between the dienone structure and 1,2- and 1,6-regioselectvity has been studied. The development of a catalyzed asymmetric 1,2 allylation of dienones is also presented. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry.