Giving reactions the names of their discoverers is an extraordinary tradition of organic chemistry. Nowadays, this phenomenon is much rarer, although already named historical reactions are still often developed. This is also true in the case of a broad branch of N‑heterocyclic carbenes catalysis. NHCs allow many unique synthetic paths, including commonly known name reactions. This article aims to gather this extensive knowledge and compare historical reactions with current developed processes. Furthermore, this review is a great opportunity to highlight some of the unique applications of these procedures in the total synthesis of biologically active compounds. Hence, this concise article may also be a source of knowledge for scientists just starting their adventure with N‑heterocyclic carbene chemistry.

N -Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) catalyzing aza-Claisen rearrangement of α,β-unsaturated enals with cyclic vinylogous amides under oxidative conditions generating potentially biologically active dihydropyridinone-fused uracils have been developed. This strategy represents a unique NHC-activation-based path with the use of 6-aminouracils as stable α,β-diEWG cyclic vinylogous amides for the efficient synthesis of bicyclic N -unprotected lactams similar to those in many useful drugs.