Despite great strides in this field, the use of exogenous catalysts, stoichiometric reductants/oxidants, and photo/electrochemical setups diminishes its practical utility compared to conventional, redox-neutral C-C bond forming cross-couplings such as the venerable Suzuki reaction. The fundamental advance of this disclosure is the discovery that sulfonyl hydrazides can serve not only as versatile radical progenitors but serve as their own electron donors, driven by the loss of N2, to facilitate a metal mediated catalytic cycle thereby obviating the need for external redox stimuli. From a practical perspective, sulfonyl hydrazides are generally stable, crystalline substances that do not need to be purified by chromatography and can often be used in crude form.