A new method of ortho-fluorination where an aryl C—H bond is directly replaced by an aryl C-F bond in a palladium-catalyzed reaction is provided. The method includes the ortho-fluorination of a triflamide protected benzylamine, a palladium catalyst, such as Pd(OTf)
2
, a fluorinating reagent such as N-fluoro-2,4,6-trimethylpyridinium triflate, and a ligand to promote the reaction such as N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP).