2021 Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry Benjamin List from the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung and David MacMillan from Princeton University have developed an ingenious new tool for building molecules: organocatalysis . Its uses include the research of new pharmaceutical products and it has also contributed to making chemistry more environmentally friendly .
Creating molecules is not an easy thing. However, certain industries and research areas need molecules that can form durable, elastic materials, store energy in batteries, or inhibit disease progression. This requires catalysts , which are substances that control and accelerate chemical reactions, without going to the final product. An example of catalysts would be that of cars, which transform toxic substances in exhaust gases into harmless molecules. Our body naturally also contains thousands of catalysts in the form of enzymes, which carve out the molecules necessary for life.
For a long time it was believed that there were only two types of catalysts: metals and enzymes. Winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Benjamin List and David MacMillan have developed a third type: asymmetric organocatalysis, which is based on small organic molecules . “This concept of catalysis is as simple as it is ingenious, and the truth is that many people have wondered why it did not occur to us before,” says Johan Åqvist, who chairs the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
Benjamin List wondered if a complete enzyme was really necessary to make a catalyst. He tested whether an amino acid called proline could catalyze a chemical reaction. The experiment worked. David MacMillan, for his part, worked with metal catalysts that were easily destroyed by moisture. He wondered if a more durable type of catalyst could be developed using simple organic molecules . One of them turned out to be excellent in asymmetric catalysis.
Organic catalysts have a stable carbon atom structure to which more active chemical groups can be attached. They often contain common elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, or phosphorus. This means that these catalysts are environmentally friendly and cheap to produce .
The discovery of asymmetric organocatalysis has taken molecular construction to a new level. Not only has it made chemistry more environmentally friendly, it has also made the production of asymmetric molecules much easier.
Organocatalysis has developed at an astonishing speed since 2000. Thanks to these reactions, researchers can more efficiently build from new pharmaceuticals to molecules capable of capturing light in solar cells .
