With the strategy of in-situ generation of benzyl formates followed by alkoxycarbonylation, a palladium catalyzed carbonylative transformation of benzyl chlorides for the synthesis of benzyl arylacetates and arylacetic acids have been developed. By employing different acidic and basic additives, both substituted phenylacetic acids and benzyl phenylacetates can be obtained divergently. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.