To arrive at these optimized conditions, extensive experimentation was conducted as summarized graphically in Table . Regarding the activating agent, PITU and CITU are less effective than DIC. Presumably, the protonated tertiary amine generated via acid activation by these reagents negatively affects the following reductive coupling step. In general, tridentate ligands often provides superior outcome to bidentate analogs in Ni-catalyzed C-C couplings (vide infra). 26-35 Empirical screening of electrolytes, electrodes, and solvents were also conducted. Finally, control experiments demonstrated that the Ni-catalyst was essential for the reaction and it could not be recapitulated using simple metal powder additives.