Palladium-catalyzed oxidative carbonylation of benzylic C-H bonds via nondirected C(sp3)-H activation.

A new strategy for generating benzylpalladium reactive species from toluenes via nondirected C(sp(3))-H activation has been developed. This led to construction of an efficient Pd-catalyzed reaction protocol for the oxidative carboxylation of benzylic C-H bonds to form substituted 2-phenylacetic acid esters and derivatives from inexpensive, commercially available starting materials.