A rhodium-catalyzed oxidative acylation of benzamides with aryl aldehydes via direct sp(2) C-H bond cleavage is described. In the presence of [Cp*RhCl(2)](2), AgSbF(6), and silver carbonate as an oxidant, N,N-diethyl benzamides can be effectively carbonylated to yield ortho-acyl benzamides.

The rhodium-catalyzed oxidative acylation between secondary benzamides and aryl aldehydes via sp(2) C-H bond activation followed by an intramolecular cyclization is described. This method results in the direct and efficient synthesis of 3-hydroxyisoindolin-1-one building blocks.

One-pot synthesis of symmetric 1,4-disubstituted 1,3-diynes from iodoarenes and propiolic acid via Sonogashira reaction followed by Pd-catalyzed decarboxylative homocoupling is developed in high yields. Also, this system allows the one-pot synthesis of unsymmetric 1,4-disubstituted 1,3-diynes by cross-coupling of two different 3-substituted propiolic acids.

A mild, practical and efficient palladium-catalyzed decarboxylative ortho-acylation of O-methyl ketoximes with α-keto acids via C-H bond activation is described. In these reactions, a broad range of O-methyl ketoximes and α-keto acids undergoes the decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions with high selectivities and good tolerance.