[movies]

Hell-Volhard-Zelinski?
Krapcho decarboxylation?
Corey-Fuchs alkyne synthesis?

There are lots of great name reactions out there, but I want to know your favorite!  It can be because it has an awesome name or because it's really useful, just tell us why!

I'll start us off:

I pick the Claisen rearrangement.  It's a ridiculously powerful reaction for transferring stereochemical information, but Claisen thought that the version we use the most today was really more of a curiousity; he was much more interested in the reaction with phenyl allyl ethers that gave allylated phenol type products.  Despite tons and tons of research, a highly effective, general enantioselective catalyst for the reaction has yet to be identified.  Whoever does find one will probably make some serious $ off of it!

[HP]

My favorite name reaction is Ugi 4Component condenzation reaction as its great of use Multicomponent reaction with isocyanides in combinative chemistry. Some time before i was admired by the chemistry of isocyanides as pretty stable C(II) compounds with great a reactivity 
http://www.organic-chemistry.org/frames.htm?http://www.organic-chemistry.org/namedreactions/ugi-reaction.shtm

[Albert]

At the moment, it's Koenigs-Knorr synthesis. http://online-media.uni-marburg.de/chemie/bioorganic/vorlesung1/kapitel2.html

I studied it as the most important step in the synthesis of Vidarabine.

[Alberto_Kravina]

Mine is the Beluzov-Zhabotinski reaction 

[wereworm73]

Despite tons and tons of research, a highly effective, general enantioselective catalyst for the reaction has yet to be identified.  Whoever does find one will probably make some serious $ off of it!

Hey, maybe something like a calixarene with -NH₂-⁺ groups instead of oxygens for the binding site could do the trick.  With those positive charges at the binding site, it could pull in the oxygenated side of the molecule to be rearranged while favoring the formation of one enantiomer over the other (calixarenes are actually great chiral discriminators).

[victor]

for me, as a newbie in chemistry, I'll choose Claisen ester condensation..

[Albert]

When I began studying organic chemistry, I fell in love with Clemmensen Reduction. And I still love it! 

[wereworm73]

I thought the Merrifield solid-phase peptide synthesis was pretty clever, especially the automation part.  By customizing polypeptides, you could do all kinds of exciting things, like selectively gumming up enzymes of harmful bacteria or designing binding sites for very specific reactions.       

[Mitch]

Wettig, because who doesn't like it?

[alphahydroxy]

Just have to love the Hell-Volhard-Zelinsky a-bromination of carboxylic acids, just because the name is so great!

[victor]

Um, may I as a little for all of you??
Are all of you chemistry students?? and, if yes, which one of all of you who have been graduated from chemistry faculty??

I myself is a biology student who fell love organic chemistry and biochemistry..I hope I can learn much organic chemistry from this site..

[Winga]

My discovered reactions, but not yet discovered.

[netscape]

I've always like the Finkelstein reaction (bromide  to iodide with NaI/acetone)...  not only is it almost always reliable and high yielding, it always intrigues me that such a simple reaction would have a name    (And yes I always thought it's a cool name I even use it for my RPG character!)