Abstract
The carbonylative cross coupling of aryl iodide with ortho-haloaniline to ortho-haloanilide using phosphine-free Pd(OAc)(2) catalyst in water as a reaction medium has been studied. The present protocol facilitated the reaction of o-haloanilines with a wide variety of hindered and functionalized aryl iodides, affording good yields of the desired products. The protocol was also extended for the synthesis of benzoxazoles through cyclization of ortho-haloanilide using Cu(acac)(2) catalyst.