Pd(0)-mediated 11C-carbonylation of aryl(mesityl)iodonium salts followed by suitable quench provides a rapid room-temperature two-pot procedure for labeling arylcarboxylic acids and amide derivatives with the short-lived positron emitter carbon-11 (t1/2 = 20.4 min) in generally good to high yields (up to 71%). High product ring selectivity (≥13) was achieved when using mesityl as a spectator group in the diaryliodonium salt precursors. This process has potential for preparing new radiotracers for molecular imaging with positron emission tomography.