An efficient palladium(0)-catalyzed direct hetero-arylation of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines at the C-3 position of the imidazole ring has been described. All the synthesized compounds 3a–3r were evaluated for their anticancer activity against a panel of four human cancer cell lines and among all the compounds, 3d, 3j, 3k, 3p and 3r showed promising activity at <10 μM.