A cross-coupling reaction of a variety of aryl, heteroaryl, and benzyl chlorides with ArMgX is catalyzed by 2 mol % of a nickel-phosphine complex prepared in situ from an equimolar amount of Ni(CH(3)CN)(2)Cl(2) and ligand (L2) to yield products in excellent yield in THF at room temperature. This new bidentate ligand (L2) is stable in air and forms a stable complex upon reaction with Ni(CH(3)CN)(2)Cl(2). Structures of the ligand and the complex were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.