Palladium-catalyzed ortho-acylation of 2-aryl pyridine derivatives using arylmethyl amines as new acyl sources

A facile and efficient protocol for palladium-catalyzed ortho-acylation of 2-aryl pyridines was developed. Note that this acylation utilized arylmethyl amines as new, cheap and readily available acylation reagents and exhibited high regioselectivity for 2-aryl pyridines bearing a meta-substituent in the aryl ring moiety.