Enhancing the reactivity of the catalytic system by using palladium catalyst with sterically demanding and electron rich ligands attached to it has often been shown as an appropriate way of performing the copper-free Sonogashira reaction. In this paper, we report PdCl₂(PCy₃)₂ as an efficient catalyst for the copper and amine-free Sonogashira cross coupling reactions of 2-halo-3-alkyl imidazo[4,5-b]pyridines (I, Br, Cl) using tetrabutyl ammonium acetate as an activator under microwave enhanced conditions.