This work was supported by the DGI of Spain (CTQ2007-61048/BQU) and the Consejería de Educación y Ciencia of Principado de Asturias (IB08-088). A FPU predoctoral fellowship to MTG is gratefully acknowledged. Keywords: arylacrylates· cross-coupling· hydrazones· palladium· pyruvate [1] a) J. Barluenga, P. Moriel, C. ValdØs, F. Aznar, Angew. Chem. 2007, 119, 5683; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 5587; b) J. Barluenga, M. Tomµs-Gamasa, P. ...