Click chemistry: Diverse chemical function from a few good reactions.

In 2022 Barry Sharpless shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Carolyn Bertozzi and Morten Meldal for "the discovery of click chemistry."

"Barry Sharpless coined the concept of click chemistry, where molecular building blocks snap together quickly and efficiently. In 2002, Sharpless and Morten Meldal, independently of each other, developed an elegant and efficient chemical reaction: the copper catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. This is now in widespread use and is utilised in the development of pharmaceuticals, for mapping DNA and creating new materials" (Nobel Prize.org).

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference.)