The diphosphine 3,5-dideoxy-1,2-O-isopropylidene-3,5-bis(di(2-methoxyphenyl)phosphanyl)-α-D-xylofuranose (o-MeO-xylophos), which differs from the known 3,5-dideoxy-1,2-O-isopropylidene-3,5-bis(diphenylphosphanyl)-α-D-xylofuranose (xylophos) by the presence of 2-methoxy substituents on the P-aryl rings, has been synthesized and characterized. These two ligands have been employed to stabilize the PdII complexes [PdCl2(o-MeO-xylophos)] (1a), [PdCl2(xylophos)] (2a), [PdClMe(o-MeO-xylophos)] (1b), [PdClMe(xylophos)] (2b), [Pd(OTs)(H2O)(o-MeO-xylophos)](OTs) (1c) and [Pd(OTs)(H2O)(xylophos)](OTs) (2c). All complexes have been characterized by multinuclear-NMR spectroscopy. The solid-state structure of 1a has been determined by a single crystal X-ray analysis. The Pd–aqua complexes 1c and 2c have been employed to catalyse the CO–ethene and CO–propene copolymerization as well as the CO–ethene–propene terpolymerization reaction in MeOH. The catalytic activity and the molecular weight of the polyketones have been compared to those of the products obtained with analogous catalysts, [Pd(H2O)2(o-MeO-dppp)](OTs)2 (3c) and [Pd(H2O)(OTs)(dppp)](OTs) (4c), bearing the classical 1,3-bis(diphenylphoshino)propane ligand (dppp). Under comparable catalytic conditions, all catalysts produce structurally similar polymeric materials, with 1c yielding the largest propene incorporation as well as the highest productivity of low-molecular-weight terpolymers.