Catalysis and Chemistry Nobel Prize 2021
The winners of 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are Benjamin List and David WC Macmillan. They were awarded with this highest honour for their contribution in the development of “asymmetric organocatalysis.”
Organocatalysis has a wide range of applications in the domains of pharmaceutical research and other connected industries. It has already contributed in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals like paroxetine ( used as anti-depressant and anti-anxiety drugs) and oseltamivir (used to treat respiratory infections). But the term catalysis is still not a popular knowledge. It’s time we try and understand it.
What is a catalyst?
We all read about catalysts as part of our school’s Chemistry curriculum. In simple terms, a catalyst is a substance that enhances the rate of chemical reaction without being directly involved or consumed in the process. And this process is known as catalysis.
Catalysis is the increase of the rate of chemical reaction, induced by a catalyst. The most important and popular kinds of catalysts are enzymes and metals. However, back in the year 2000, this year’s Nobel Prize winning duo had independently developed a third type of catalysts and in turn a unique kind of catalysis named “asymmetric organocatalysis.” This is an efficient way of catalysis, one that is cost-effective, precise, fast and environment friendly and helps in developing new molecules apart from the already existing ones.
How did the duo make the development?
In 2000, one of the Nobel Prize winners, Dr. Benjamin List (currently the director of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Germany), had published a paper in the journal American Chemical Society, explaining a chemical reaction involving the asymmetric catalyst called amino acid proline.
Incidentally, in the same year, his current co-researcher, Dr. Macmillan (now a professor at Princeton University, USA) and his then research team had published a related paper in the same journal explaining about a reaction catalysed by chiral imidazolidinone and had for the first introduced the world to the term ‘organocatalysis.’
Later on, towards the end of 2001, the duo joined hands and have been continuing their research until now.
How has catalysis contributed to the field of chemistry so far?
This is not the first-time scientists working on catalysis have won Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In fact, this subject has led to seven more Nobel Prizes. W. Ostwald was the first one to win it for figuring out the process of catalysis itself. He was followed by P. Sabatier in 1912 for hydrogenation using metal catalysts; K. Ziegler and G. Natta in 1963 for developing catalysts to induce polymer synthesis; J.W. Cornforth in 1975 for stereochemistry of enzyme-catalyzed reactions; W.S. Knowles, R. Noyori and K.B. Sharpless in 2001 for asymmetric catalysis (partly similar to the new development); Y Chauvin, R.H. Grubbs and R.R. Schrock in 2005 for olefin metathesis and finally R.F. Heck, Ei Negishi and A. Suzuki in 2010 for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings.