Abstract The palladium-catalysed direct arylation of acetanilides by using CH activation methodology has been demonstrated. Several acetanilides were coupled with aryl iodides in the presence of 10 mol% of Pd (OAc) 2, 1· 0 equiv of Cu (OTf) 2, and 0· 6 equiv of Ag 2 O to afford the corresponding products in moderate to excellent yields. The results showed that the amount of Ag 2 O was important for this protocol.