Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 Winners

Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 13:45

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 has been awarded to Prof Benjamin List and Prof David WC MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis, a precise new tool for molecular construction.
 
“Many research areas and industries are dependent on chemists’ ability to construct molecules that can form elastic and durable materials, store energy in batteries or inhibit the progression of diseases. This work requires catalysts, which are substances that control and accelerate chemical reactions, without becoming part of the final product,” said Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in a statement.

“Catalysts are thus fundamental tools for chemists, but researchers long believed that there were, in principle, just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes. Benjamin List and David MacMillan are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 because in 2000 they, independent of each other, developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules.”

For more information on this fantastic achievement see the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press release at the below link.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2021/press-release/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2021/summary/
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58814418