Seven new camphor palladium or platinum compounds with novel metal coordination environments were obtained by convenient choice of the experimental conditions in particular the solvent. cis-[PtCl2(PhNC10H14O)2]) and [Pd(MeNNC10H14O)2] were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis while [{PtCl2(Me2NC10H13NSO2)}2], [{PdCl2(YNC10H14O)}2] (Y = NMe2, NPh2) and [Pd(PhNNC10H14O)2] were formulated by elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques. Relevant aspects of the IR and NMR spectra of complexes [Pd(YNC10H14O)2] (Y = MeN, PhN) are discussed with the help of DFT calculations.Evaluation of the properties of the new complexes as catalysts for activation of 4-pentyn-1-ol towards formation of cyclization products showed that [{PdCl2(Ph2NNC10H14O)}2] is more efficient than [PdCl2(Me2NNC10H14O)2] which is one of the more efficient camphor derived catalysts reported before. In contrast the chelate complexes [Pd(YNC10H14O)2] (Y = MeN, PhN) display no catalytic activity.