Kumada-Corriu Coupling

In 1972, Professor Kumada's group in Japan and Professor Corriu's group in France independently reported a C-C cross coupling reaction between an alkyl or aryl Grignard reagent with an aryl or vinyl halocarbon catalysed by nickel complex. The french group published first and the publication was referenced in Kumada's JACS paper. This reaction has witnessed quite an interesting development and has been gradually accepted by main stream organic chemistry community as a useful tool in organic synthesis, together with later developed Negishi coupling (1977), Sonogashira coupling (1975), Suzuki (1979), Stille (1978), etc. these novel C-C bond formations have greatly enriched the tool box of modern synthetic organic chemistry.

Major references:
R. J. P. Corriu; J.P. Masse, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1972, 144
Kohei Tamao, Koji Sumitani, Makoto Kumada . J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 1972, 94, 4374–4376.