Early Wednesday morning, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.
For a very long time, chemists and the scientific research world at large accepted that there were two types of catalysts: metals and enzymes. But, in 2000, List, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and MacMillian, a professor at Princeton University, turned that long-accepted belief on its head.
Twenty-one years ago, independently of each other, the chemists developed a third type of catalysis called asymmetric organocatalysis. This method, which relies on small organic molecules to drive a chemical reaction, allows researchers to more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells. The technique has also made chemistry greener, overall.
“In this way, organocatalysts are bringing the greatest benefit to humankind,” said the Nobel Prize panel.
Peter Somfai, a member of the committee, stressed the importance of the discovery for the world economy in an interview with the Associated Press.
“It has been estimated that catalysis is responsible for about 35% of the world’s GDP, which is a pretty impressive figure,” said the chemistry professor. “If we have a more environmentally friendly alternative, it’s expected that that will make a difference.”
In an interview with Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith after he received the call, List agreed, pointing out there are huge differences in how molecules are made.
Versions developed by List and MacMillian do not require any toxic reagents or produce waste.
“You can do it elegantly,” said List. “[As organic chemists,] we think our molecules have a certain beauty to them. Making them is like creating something beautiful, especially if they are natural products.”
Since the discovery, the tool has been further refined, making it many times more efficient. Of course, both List and MacMillian have remained leaders in the field, demonstrating that organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions.
“In the big picture, the ability to create new compounds to address human problems is the strength of chemistry,” said H. N. Cheng, President of the American Chemical Society, of which both now-Nobel Laurates belong to. “Chemists are like magicians, and with asymmetric organocatalysis, we have a new magic wand for making important drugs.”
Indeed, the tool has already been leveraged to create safe and effective antiviral and anti-anxiety medication.
This is the second time in as many days that The Nobel Prize Committee awarded the prize to environmentally conscious research. On Tuesday, the committee awarded Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for their studies of climate and other complex phenomena.
In the 1960s, Manabe led the development of physical models of the Earth’s climate and was the first person to explore the interaction between radiation balance and the vertical transport of air masses. His work laid the foundation for the development of current climate models.
About 10 years later, Hasselmann created a model that links together weather and climate, thus answering the question of why climate models can be reliable despite weather being changeable and chaotic. He also developed methods for identifying “fingerprints” that both natural phenomena and human activities imprint in the climate. His methods have been used to prove that the increased temperature in the atmosphere is due to human emissions of carbon dioxide.
Then, around 1980, Parisi discovered hidden patterns in disordered complex materials. His discoveries are among the most important contributions to the theory of complex systems. They make it possible to understand and describe many different and apparently entirely random materials and phenomena, not only in physics but also in mathematics, biology, neuroscience, machine learning and more.
“The discoveries being recognized this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations,” said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. “This year’s Laureates have all contributed to us gaining deeper insight into the properties and evolution of complex physical systems.”
Photo: Limonene molecules. Credit: © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences