Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to click chemistry trio
Copenhagen, Oct 5 (EFE).- The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was Wednesday awarded to scientists Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.”
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored the trio for their experiments which have “improved the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals” and are bringing the “greatest benefits to humankind.”
“This year’s Prize in Chemistry deals with not overcomplicating matters, instead working with what is easy and simple. Functional molecules can be built even by taking a straightforward route,” Johan Åqvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a statement.
Click chemistry “is a form of simple and reliable chemistry, where reactions occur quickly and unwanted by-products are avoided,” the Academy said.
“Click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions have taken chemistry into the era of functionalism,” it added.
Sharpless and Meldal laid the foundation of click chemistry while Bertozzi to a “new dimension” by utilizing them in living organisms.
It is Sharpless’s second Nobel Prize. In 2001, he won the Chemistry prize “for his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.” EFE
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