Making molecules is hard work. Atoms must be stitched together into specific arrangements through a series of chemical reactions that are often slow, convoluted and wasteful. The 2021 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognizes two scientists who developed a tool at the turn of the century that revolutionized how chemists construct new molecules, making the process faster and more environmentally friendly.
Chemists Benjamin List of the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany and David MacMillan of Princeton University were awarded the prize for independently developing organic catalysts that speed up chemical reactions necessary for constructing specific molecules, a process called asymmetric organocatalysis. The two will share the
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