Science update: Nobel prize in chemistry

The Nobel prize


No, chemistry is not boring. It is fun and interesting. And important.

Anyway, the AP reports on a Nobel prize for two chemists who revolutionized the science of catalysis. No, that's not a little deal, it's a huge deal. Chemical synthesis of complex molecules is required for all sorts of things including medicines, coloring agents, chemical intermediates for making bigger molecules, etc. Catalysis speeds up the process of making bigger or final molecules from smaller or precursor molecules. One member of the Nobel committee commented: “It has been estimated that catalysis is responsible for about 35% of the world’s GDP, which is a pretty impressive figure. If we have a more environmentally friendly alternative, it’s expected that that will make a difference.”

The new generation of catalysts are biodegradable and they permit smaller amounts of toxic solvents to make finished molecules. The positive environmental impact of this new technology is going to be major, not modest or trivial. The AP article comments:
Making molecules — which requires linking individual atoms together in specific arrangement — is a difficult and slow task. Until the beginning of the millennium, chemists had only two methods — or catalysts — to speed up the process.

That all changed in 2000, when Benjamin List, of the Max Planck Institute, and David MacMillan, of Princeton University, independently reported that small organic molecules can be used to do the same job as big enzymes and metal catalysts.
The new method, known as asymmetric organocatalysis, “is used widely today, for example, in drug discovery and in fine chemicals production,” said Wittung-Stafshede.

Johan Åqvist, chair of the Nobel panel, called the new method as “simple as it is ingenious.”

“The fact is that many people have wondered why we didn’t think of it earlier,” he added.
The comments about simplicity and why this wasn't discovered earlier tend to pop up with some of the greatest inventions. What catalyst chemists are doing now is making new molecules and testing them for their asymmetric organocatalyst properties. Over time, catalysis science will lead to more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to make complex molecules.


-- By Germaine, the Science Nut 


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