Can't smoothly rotate towards an object!

Unity Engine
,
1

I am trying to create a method that smoothly rotates an NPC so that they are facing the player or any other object. I looked on the internet and tried all the usual methods, but they either instantly rotate the NPC to about half of the desired rotation or completely freeze Unity! Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

My code is displayed below. Two of my failed attempts at smooth rotation are commented out.

 /*bool rotating = false;
    GameObject rotateTarget = null;*/
//Failed Attempt #1 (Part 1)
    /*private void FixedUpdate()
    {
        while (rotating)
        {
            transform.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(transform.rotation, Quaternion.LookRotation(rotateTarget.transform.position - transform.position), 5);
            if(Physics.Raycast(transform.position, transform.forward, 7.25f))
            {
                rotating = false;
            }
        }
    }*/
public void TalkTo(string name)
    {
        ToggleWander();
        //Failed Attempt #1 (Part 2):
        /*rotateTarget = GameObject.Find(name);
        rotating = true;
        while (rotating)
        {

        }*/
       
        //Failed Attempt #2:
        /*while(!Physics.Raycast(transform.position, transform.forward, 7.25f))
        {
            transform.rotation = Quaternion.Lerp(transform.rotation, Quaternion.LookRotation(GameObject.Find(name).transform.position - transform.position), 30 * Time.deltaTime);
            Wait(0.5f);
        }
        */
        transform.LookAt(GameObject.Find(name).transform.position);
        Debug.LogFormat("NPC is facing {0}: {1}", name, Physics.Raycast(transform.position, transform.forward, 7.25f));
        Debug.LogFormat("Now talking to {0}", name);
        ToggleWander();
    }
2

this should do:

        /*
         * Function which rotates an Object towards another object smoothly
         */
        public IEnumerator LookAtSmoothly(Transform objectToRotate, Vector3 objectToRotateTo, float duration)
        {
            Quaternion currentRot = objectToRotate.rotation;

            //Rotate on all axis aside of Y axis
            Quaternion newRot = Quaternion.LookRotation(new Vector3(objectToRotateTo.x, objectToRotate.position.y, objectToRotateTo.z)
                                                                    - objectToRotate.position, objectToRotate.TransformDirection(Vector3.up));
           
            float counter = 0;
            while (counter < duration)
            {
                counter += Time.deltaTime;
                objectToRotate.rotation =
                    Quaternion.Lerp(currentRot, newRot, counter / duration);
                yield return null;
            }
        }