Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to a new method of bimolecular construction | News

Scientists Benjamin List and David WC MacMillan were commended for developing a new type of catalyst to accelerate chemical reactions.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the German scientist Benjamin Lister of the Max Planck Institute and the Scottish-born scientist David Macmillan of Princeton University.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement announcing the winners on Wednesday that the work of the two scientists has resulted in advanced pharmaceutical research results and “makes chemistry more environmentally friendly.”

Working independently of each other, List and MacMillan have developed a new type of catalyst to accelerate chemical reactions, called asymmetric organocatalysis. The college stated that such catalysts are essential for molecular construction.

John Aquist, chairman of the Nobel Committee on Chemistry, said: “This catalytic concept is simple and ingenious. In fact, many people wonder why we didn’t think of it earlier.”

It is common for several scientists working in related fields to share awards. Last year, the award was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A Doudna of the United States for their development of a gene editing tool that revolutionized science by providing a way to alter DNA.

Prestigious awards include a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over 1.1 million US dollars). The prize money came from the bequest of the creator of the prize and the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.

On Monday, the Nobel Committee Grant The Physiology or Medicine Prize is awarded to Americans David Julius and Arden Pataptian for their discovery of how the human body perceives temperature and touch.

On Tuesday, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Three scientists – American and Japanese scientists Syukuro Manabe, Germany’s Klaus Hasselmann and Italy’s Giorgio Parisi – for climate models and understanding of physical systems.

In the coming days, awards will also be awarded for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics.