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The Nobel Committee announced on Wednesday that Benjamin List and David McMillan won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of asymmetric organic catalysis. For a long time, the scientific community has always believed that there are only two types of catalysts, these substances control and accelerate chemical reactions, and the basic tools for research. The two were rewarded for developing the third catalyst.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List of Germany and David MacMillan of the American on Wednesday, October 6th, for their development of a new tool for building molecules that makes “green” chemistry and improved drug research possible.
The Nobel Jury in Stockholm announced that the two had won awards for the “development of asymmetric organic catalysis”.
Catalysts-substances that control and accelerate chemical reactions, but are not part of the final product-are the basic tools of chemists.
The third type of catalyst
But researchers have long believed that, in principle, only two catalysts are available: metals and enzymes.
Benjamin List and David MacMillan, both 53 years old, “because they won the Nobel Prize in 2000” independently developed a third type of catalysis, asymmetric organic catalysis, which has “developed at an alarming rate since the 2000s” “, the Nobel Jury explained.
Last year, the chemistry prize was awarded to French woman Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer Doudna. Two geneticists developed “scissors” that can modify human genes. This is a revolutionary breakthrough.
Breakthroughs in DNA sequencing, nanocrystals, “click chemistry”, and even the pioneers of the messenger RNA vaccine against Covid-19 are among the guesses this year.
Two summits will continue during the Nobel season: the literary summit still in Stockholm on Thursday, and then the peace summit in Oslo on Friday. The savings price will be closed on Monday for that year.
The pandemic is responsible, and the winners will receive prizes in their country of residence as they did last year, even if there is little hope of winning the peace prize in Oslo.
Agence France-Presse