Major advances in optoelectronic technologies (e. g., solar cells, organic light‐emitting diodes, etc…) are prefaced by the discovery of new synthetic methodologies. In this review, the key role of the Fagan‐Nugent reaction in enabling our team (and others) to gain access to new building blocks for luminescent materials and conjugated polymers bearing p‐block elements will be described. The Fagan‐Nugent reaction is extremely powerful as a synthetic tool since the efficient zirconium‐element atom exchange involved affords a wide range of unsaturated inorganic heterocycles of controllable composition and function.