Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines and especially their amide derivatives exhibit a wide range of favourable pharmacological properties. In this work, Pd-catalysed carbonylation was used for the first time for the introduction of the carboxamide moiety into positions 6 or 8. A recyclable Pd catalyst, with palladium immobilised on a supported ionic liquid phase decorated with pyridinium ions, was used efficiently for the conversion of 6- or 8-iodo derivatives to the products. In the case of 6-iodo derivatives, a competing mono- and double carbonylation could be observed in the reactions of aliphatic amines as nucleophiles, but under the proper choice of reaction conditions, good-to-excellent selectivities could be achieved towards either the corresponding amides or α-ketomides. The heterogeneous catalyst showed excellent recyclability and low Pd-leaching.

The combination of the ferrocene skeleton with pharmacophores often leads to molecules with interesting biological properties. Five ferrocene-benzofuran hybrids of different structures were synthesized by transition metal catalyzed reactions. The efficiency of both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic methods was tested. The products were characterized using ¹H, ¹³C NMR and FTIR spectroscopy, HRMS and cyclic voltammetry. The structure of one of the new compounds was also proved with X-ray crystallography. The new hybrids showed moderate cytotoxicity on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. It is remarkable that the less curable MDA-MB-231 cell line was more sensitive to treatment with three ferrocene derivatives.