In organic chemistry, the Jocic reaction, also called the Jocic–Reeve reaction (named after Zivojin Jocic^[1] and Wilkins Reeve^[2]) is a name reaction that generates α-substituted carboxylic acids from trichloromethylcarbinols and corresponding nucleophiles in the presence of sodium hydroxide. The reaction involves nucleophilic displacement of the hydroxyl group in a 1,1,1-trichloro-2-hydroxyalkyl structure with concomitant conversion of the trichloromethyl portion to a carboxylic acid or other acyl group.

The key stages of the reaction involve an S_N2 reaction, where the nucleophile displaces the oxygen with geometric inversion.

The reaction mechanism involves an epoxide intermediate that undergoes an S_N2 reaction by the nucleophile. As a result of this mechanistic aspect, the reaction can easily occur on secondary or tertiary positions, and chiral products can be made by using chiral alcohol substrates.^[3][4] The reaction is one stage of the Corey–Link reaction, the Bargellini reaction, and other processes for synthesizing α-amino acids and related structures. Using hydride as the nucleophile, which also reduces the carbonyl of the product, allows this sequence to be used as a homologation reaction for primary alcohols.^[5]

Examples of this reaction include:
Generation of α-azidocarboxylic acids with the use of sodium azide as the nucleophile in DME with the presence of sodium hydroxide.^[6]
Conversion of aldehydes to homoelongated carboxylic acids, by first reacting with trichloromethide to form a trichloromethylcarbinol, then undergoing a Jocic reaction with either sodium borohydride or sodium phenylseleno(triethoxy)borate as the nucleophile in sodium hydroxide.^[7] This reaction can be followed by the introduction of an amine, to form the corresponding homoelongated amides.^[8]