A catalytic method for hydroformylating cyclooctadiene substrate involving forming a reaction mixture that includes the cyclooctadiene and a precursor of or a transitional metal ligand complex where the ligand has structure (1): (1) H2 and CO are fed into the reaction mixture and the mixture is heated to convert the cyclooctadiene into an aldehyde. A preferred ligand is 4-([1,1′:3′,1″-terphenyl]-2′-yloxy)-S-dinaphtho[2,1-d:1′,2′-f][1,3,2]dioxaphosphepine.