A reaction to prepare alkanes by reacting a haloalkane with sodium:
The haloalkane is refluxed with sodium in dry ether. The method is named after the French chemist Charles-Adolphe Wurtz (1817–84), who discovered it in 1855. The analogous reaction using a haloalkane and a haloarene, for example:
is called the Fittig reaction after the German chemist Rudolph Fittig (1835–1910), who investigated it in the 1860s.