Abstract Novel triarylphosphine-functionalized imidazolinium salts have been prepared and successfully applied in palladium-catalyzed hydroarylation of bicyclic olefins. Under reductive conditions (HCOOH, Et 3 N), the complexes generated in situ from imidazolinium salts and Pd (OAc) 2 catalyzed the hydroarylation of bicyclic alkenes with aryl iodides, providing the hydroarylation products with high turnover numbers (TON, up to 1.9· 10 5) ...