Herein we report a novel palladium-catalyzedoxidativecarbonylation reaction for the synthesis of phthalimides with high atom- and step-economy. In our strategy, the imine and H2O, which are generated in situ from the condensation of aldehyde and amine, serve as self-sufficient directing group and nucleophile, respectively. This method provides rapid access to phthalimides starting from readily available