To confirm that the observed rate increase was specifically due to the availability of a base, we expanded the study to include a wider range of inorganic and organic bases. This revealed a clear correlation between increasing reaction rate and increasing base strength (pKaH), as shown in Fig. . Cs2CO3 enabled the fastest reaction with completion reached in 3 h (Fig. , black trace), rather than 8 h without base (Fig. , purple trace), all without decreasing the yield. Potassium phthalimide proved slightly slower (blue trace), while the less basic tetrachloro-analogue of potassium phthalimide (green trace) resulted in significantly slower reactions with respect to the addition of Cs2CO3. However, in all cases, the addition of a base accelerated the reaction, whereas the addition of protonated phthalimide retarded the reaction compared to the addition of no auxiliary base (Fig. , yellow trace). Taken together, this base variation supports a deprotonation step being key to reaction propagation; rather than a stabilising chemical interaction with phthalimide as seen in some photochemical methodologies. Microkinetic modelling simulations, based on DFT-computed energy barriers, further supports the mechanistic proposal by replicating the experimental observation of an initial induction phase followed by an acceleration of the reaction rate when no base is added (Fig. ). Inclusion of the phthalimide anion in the model reduces the induction period and leads to a ca.