Name Reactions There are many reactions in Organic Chemistry which have proven to be very useful in a number of syntheses. These have come to be known as “Name Reactions”, so called after the name...

Name Reactions

There are many reactions in Organic Chemistry which have proven to be very useful in a number of syntheses. These have come to be known as “Name Reactions”, so called after the name of the discoverer of these processes. Name reactions are used to refer to groundbreaking reactions or the associated mechanisms or principles that are worthwhile knowing and keeping straight. Just as physicians must learn the names of organs and geologists the names of minerals, chemists or students of chemistry use name reactions as a way to organize their knowledge and communicate about chemical transformations. In laboratory discussions, people very often use name reactions to refer to experiments they are running or the chemical problems they are investigating. The goal of your Special Project is to choose

6

of these name reactions from the list below and describe them with the following details:

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  The name of the discoverer and a few details about him/her.
  

  
  


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  A description of the reaction in words, i.e.- what does it do. For example, “This reaction is used to make esters from carboxylic acids”.
  

  
  


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  A description of the reagents and conditions under which the reaction is performed, i.e.- starting material(s) on left, reagents above the arrow, conditions (temp./solvent) below the arrow, product(s) on right.
  

  
  


• 
  

  
  Find two examples from the literature using these reactions. Do your best to carefully draw out the starting materials and products. Take pains to be neat. These can be done free-hand or (preferably) cut-and-pasted from the literature. It would be particularly excellent if you find one of these name reactions in the preparation of a drug or something.
  

  
  

Please use your own words

and make sure they don’t sound like someone else’s words. Please avoid cutting large paragraphs from the literature. I would expect 3-4 pages.

Baeyer-Villiger Oxidation

Bamford-Stevens Reaction

Beckmann Rearrangement

Birch Reduction

Cannizzaro Oxidation Reduction

Claisen Condensation

Collins Reagent/Oxidation

Curtius Rearrangement (Reaction)

Dieckmann Condensation

Diels-Alder Reaction

Favorskii Reaction

Friedel-Crafts Acylation

Grignard Reaction

Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky Reaction

Hofmann Elimination

Hunsdiecker Reaction

Jones Oxidation

Knoevenagel Condensation

Mannich Reaction

Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley Reduction

Michael Addition

Oppenauer Oxidation

Peterson Olefination

Reformatsky Reaction

Robinson Annulation

Sandmeyer Reaction

Schotten-Baumann Reaction

Simmons-Smith Reaction

Suzuki Coupling

Swern Oxidation

Ullmann Reaction

Vilsmeier Reaction

Williamson Synthesis

Wittig Reaction

Wolff-Kishner Reduction