u/Pure-Throat1362

As the title says can the attached reaction be a McMurry coupling despite the lack of a titanium compound, as it seems to function in the same way that a McMurry coupling would, unless I’m missing something mechanistically.

Paper for anyone interested: https://pubs.acs.org/jceda8/article/59/2/163/45343/The-preparation-of-lucigenin-An-experiment-with?searchresult=1

If the link doesn’t work I can send a PDF via DMs.