Wittig reaction [SEP] named after
Wittig reaction
The Wittig reaction or Wittig olefination is a chemical reaction of an aldehyde or ketone with a triphenyl phosphonium ylide (often called a Wittig reagent) to give an alkene and triphenylphosphine oxide.
The Wittig reaction was discovered in 1954 by Georg Wittig, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979. It is widely used in organic synthesis for the preparation of alkenes. It should not be confused with the Wittig rearrangement.
Wittig reactions are most commonly used to couple aldehydes and ketones to singly
IUPAC nomenclature for organic transformations
The IUPAC Nomenclature for Transformations is a methodology for naming a chemical reaction. Traditionally a chemical reaction especially in organic chemistry is named after its inventor, the so-called named reaction, to name just a few: Knoevenagel condensation, Wittig reaction or Diels-Alder reaction. A lot of reactions derive their name from the reagent involved like bromination or acylation. On rare occasions the reaction is named after the company responsible like in the Wacker process or the name only hints to the process involved like