Book excerpt: Since the publication of Organic Syntheses Based on Name Reactions and Unnamed Reactions, as Volume 11 in the Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry series, there has been a proliferation of newly discovered Name Reactions in the field of organic chemistry. Hence, this, the second edition of this title has focused on the ongoing development in this area of research. The revised title, Organic Syntheses Based on Name Reactions, reflects the notion whereby many new reagents and reactions are now being referred to by their names. The inclusion of over 155 new stereoselective and regioselective reagents or reactions including asymmetric syntheses, brings the total to over 540. Features that will be invaluable to the reader include over 3000 references, a names index, reagent index, reaction index and a functional group transformation index. The latter of these indexes will allow the reader to search for conversions of one functional group to another and has proved a much utilized tool for the synthetic chemist, searching for pathways to perform synthetic procedures.