Several 4-azaphthalides (¼ furo [3,4-b]pyridin-5(7H)-ones) and 5-azaisocoumarins (¼ 5H-pyrano[4,3-b]pyridin-5-ones) were prepared through a tandem heterogeneous Pd/C-mediated Sonogashira coupling and a 5-exo-dig or 6-endo-dig intramolecular cyclization of 2-bromonicotinic acid (¼ 2-bromopyridine-3-carboxyclic acid) with various ethynylarenes or 3-ethynylthiophene. In the presence of Pd/CÀPh 3 PÀCuI and Et 3 N in dry dioxane under Ar at 908, a mixture of 4-azaphthalides (usually the major product) and 5-azaisocoumarins was obtained after 3.5 h under normal heating (Schemes 3 and 4; Tables 1 and 2). This mixture of compounds was also obtained with the same catalytic system under microwave (MW) irradiation in only 25 min (Tables 3 and 4). The 1-ethynyl-3-methoxybenzene gave on heating only the corresponding 4-azaphthalide (Table 2), while under MW irradiation, both the 5-exo-dig and the 6-endo-dig products were obtained ( Table 4). For the 3-ethynylthiophene, the regioselectivity for the corresponding 4-azaphthalide was achieved with both methods (Tables 2 and 4). Although the yields and the regioselectivity of the reaction generally remained the same with both methods, the use of MW allowed us to obtain the corresponding products in a shorter reaction time. From 4-ethynyl-N,Ndimethylaniline (¼ 4-ethynyl-N,N-dimethylbenzenamine), the corresponding 4-azaphthalide and 5-isocoumarin were only obtained under MW irradiation (Tables 2 and 4). To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that this kind of tandem reaction was applied to a pyridine derivative giving the corresponding 4-azaphthalides and 5-azaisocoumarins which are easily separated and may both show biological activity.Introduction. -Phthalides (¼ isobenzofuran-1(3H)-ones) [1] and isocoumarins (¼ 1H-2-benzopyran-1-ones) [2] are important classes of O-containing heterocycles often seen in naturally occurring and biologically active compounds. One of the most attractive routes for the synthesis of these compounds is the use of 2-halogenobenzoic acids and terminal alkynes as starting materials. Usually, this process was performed in a one-pot two-step reaction: a Sonogashira coupling [3] of 2-iodobenzoic acid with terminal alkynes followed by an intramolecular cyclization of the 2-alkynylbenzoic acid, which often results in a mixture of a (3Z)-3-alkylidenephthalide, and a 3-alkyl-or 3-arylisocoumarin via 5-exo-dig and 6-endo-dig cyclizations, respectively (Scheme 1) [4]. Kundu and co-workers described this heteroannulation process as stereospecific for the phthalide, since only the (3Z)-isomers of the 3-alkylidenephthalides were obtained [4a].