To show the synthetic utility of palladium/norbornene (Pd/NBE) cooperative catalysis,h ere we report concise syntheses of indenone-based natural products,p auciflorol F and acredinone A, which are enabled by direct annulation between aryl iodides and unsaturated carboxylic acid anhydrides.C ompared to the previous indenone-preparation approaches,t his method allows simple aryl iodides to be used as substrates with complete control of the regioselectivity.The total synthesis of acredinone Afeatures two different Pd/NBEcatalyzedo rtho acylation reactions for constructing pentasubstituted arene cores,i ncluding the development of an ew ortho acylation/ipso borylation. Scheme 1. Indenone/indanone containing natural products and indenone synthesis.