The room-temperature chemical synthesis of C2 was first reported in the form of a pre-print and has now appeared as a full paper. The core of the article asserts at its simplest that a transient intermediate 11 formed as -C≡C-I + -Ph by treating precursor 1a with a source of fluoride anion can fragment to singlet C2 and I-Ph at ambient or low temperatures (Scheme 1).