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The 2021Nobel Prize in chemistryhas been grant to two scientists who developed new tools for building mirror - simulacrum molecules — enable new drugs to be created in a more environmentally friendly way .
The researcher Benjamin List , of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research , and David MacMillan , of Princeton University , were award the prize " because in 2000 they , independent of each other , developed a third type of contact action , " the Nobel Committeewrote in a command . catalyst , which are substances that can both verify and accelerate chemical substance reactions , are important tools in chemistry . For a prospicient clip scientists believed that there were only two types of accelerator : metallic element and enzymes . But the researchers created a third mental process forebode asymmetrical organocatalysis that uses small organic molecules as catalysts , which opened up entirely new avenue for work up mote .
Representatives from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences sit in front of a screen displaying the winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry..
" Organic catalyst can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reaction , " the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in the statement . " Using these reactions , researchers can now more expeditiously make anything from new pharmaceutical to speck that can capture light in solar cells . "
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Chemists create novel molecules by chain together midget chemical edifice blocks , but ensure this bonding process is a tricky task . catalyst are important in channelize these reaction , but even they have their limitations . For instance , established catalyst are often unable to prevent a coarse situation that rise up when a exclusive process to work up a desire speck produces one of two potential molecule — each the mirror image of the other , like odd and veracious hands . These mirror - figure , or chiral , molecule can have vastly dissimilar property and interactions with the consistence . For instance , the mirror - look-alike molecule of levomethamphetamine — which is used in pinched inhaler to relieve a unaired nose — is dextromethamphetamine , both a alterative used for MBD as well as the illicit and extremely addictive street drug .
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But the asymmetrical organocatalysis method educate by List and MacMillan — using tiny organic corpuscle as the catalysts — sidesteps this mirror - image trouble , enable pharmacist to select the precise " laterality " of the molecule they want to create . This vastly reduces waste , and the subsequent cost , in the output of vital pharmaceuticals .
Organic catalyst are made by attaching common alive chemical substance elements — likeoxygen , nitrogen , sulfurandphosphorus — onto a stable framework ofcarbonatoms . This process is both cheap and environmentally friendly .
" This concept for contact action is as simple-minded as it is cunning , and the fact is that many people have wondered why we did n’t opine of it to begin with , " Johan Åqvist , chairwoman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry , said in the statement .
The award come with a trophy of 10 million Swedish kronor ( $ 1.15 million ) to be shared equally between the two laureate .
Originally bring out on Live Science .
