The Nobel Prize for Chemistry is going to the German Benjamin List and the British David MacMillan this year. The two scientists receive the award for "the development of asymmetrical organocatalysis". This was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Wednesday, October 6, 2021 in Stockholm.
Catalysts help control and accelerate chemical reactions. They themselves are not changed. They are practically indispensable in the production of molecules for a wide variety of applications. A classic example of catalysts are enzymes that keep numerous vital metabolic processes running in our body. But they are now also used in many industrial applications, such as the production of food or pharmaceuticals.
Until the turn of the millennium, researchers thought that in addition to enzymes, only metals could serve as catalysts. But then Benjamin List and David MacMillan developed a third catalyst type independently in 2000. Your organocatalysis is based on small organic molecules that consist of a framework made of carbon atoms, to which other chemical groups can dock. In addition, the procedure runs asymmetrically, which means that only a very specific one of two mirror -image forms of a molecule can be formed. This is of great importance, especially in the production of drugs. The process has enriched pharmaceutical research and made chemistry more environmentally friendly, according to the press release of the academy.
Recipient of the medical Nobel Prize for developing touch and temperature sensors
The Nobel Prize is the highest award for scientists. It is endowed with ten million Swedish crowns per category - this corresponds to the equivalent of around 980,000 euros. The Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology is going to the sensory physiologist David Julius and the molecular biologist Arem Patapoutian this year. They discovered those receptors that are responsible for touch and temperature sensation in the body. Climate researchers Klaus Hasselmann and Syokuro Manabe as well as the theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi for their "groundbreaking discoveries to complex systems are given to the Nobel Prize.
The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of the prize founder Alfred Nobel. As in the previous year, the celebrations in 2021 will take place predominantly digitally due to the corona pandemic.
