Abstract: Disclosed herein are heterocyclic arynes and methods for preparing the same. Heteroarynes such as 5-membered O- or N-heterocyclic arynes have been considered inaccessible due to ring strain associated with the triple bond. The methods described herein demonstrate that these arynes can be successfully prepared through the utility of pi-backbonding from a transition metal. Synthetic utility of this method has been demonstrated by the facile synthesis and functionalization of heterocycles using these heteroaryne building blocks.