A general and convenient palladium-catalyzed synthesis of benzylideneindolin-3-ones with formic acid as the CO source

A general and convenient palladium-catalyzed carbonylative synthesis of 2-benzylideneindolin-3-ones from 2-iodoanilines and arylacetylenes has been developed. With formic acid as the CO source and Ac2O as the activator, a variety of 2-benzylidene-indolin-3-ones were obtained in good to excellent yields with exceptional functional group tolerance.