The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to Benjamin List and David WC MacMillan for their development of a new tool for building molecules, work that has spurred advances in pharmaceutical research and reduced the impact of chemistry on the ‘environment.

Their work, while invisible to consumers, is an essential part of many high-tech industries and is crucial for research.

Chemists are among those responsible for building molecules capable of forming elastic and durable materials, storing energy in batteries, or inhibiting the progression of disease.

But this work requires catalysts, which are substances that control and speed up chemical reactions without being part of the final product.

“For example, catalysts in cars turn toxic substances in exhaust gases into harmless molecules,” the Nobel committee said in a statement. “Our bodies also contain thousands of catalysts in the form of enzymes, which chisel the molecules necessary for life.”

The problem was that there were only two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes.

In 2000, Dr List and Dr MacMillan – working independently of each other – developed a new type of catalysis that reduced waste and enabled new ways of building molecules.

This is called asymmetric organocatalysis and relies on small organic molecules.

“This concept of catalysis is as simple as it is ingenious, and the fact is that many people have wondered why we had not thought of it sooner,” said Johan Aqvist, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Why is work important?

Virtually everyone on the planet has encountered a product that has benefited from the expertise of a chemist. The process of using catalysts to break down molecules or put them together is essential in industry and research.

Catalysis is what makes plastics possible; it also enables the manufacture of products such as food flavors to target the taste buds and fragrances to tickle the nose.

About 35 percent of the world’s gross domestic product involves chemical catalysis.

But until 2000 and the discovery by the Nobel Prize winners, the tools available to chemists were the equivalent of hammers and chisels.

“If we compare nature’s ability to build chemical creations with ours, we were stuck in the Stone Age for a long time,” the Nobel committee wrote.

In nature, enzymes build the molecular complexes that give life its shape, color and function.

The catalysts previously used by chemists could be broken down into two groups: metals or enzymes.

“Metals are often excellent catalysts because they have a special ability to temporarily receive electrons or supply them to other molecules during a chemical process,” the committee wrote. “It helps loosen the bonds between atoms in a molecule, so bonds that are otherwise strong can be broken and new ones can form.”

But in order to work, some metal catalysts need to be in an oxygen and moisture free environment, which is difficult to achieve in many large scale industries. And many of these catalysts are heavy metals, which can be harmful to the environment.

In nature, enzymes are used as catalysts with amazing precision. It’s the process by which complicated – and vital – molecules like cholesterol and chlorophyll are formed.

Because enzymes are so efficient, researchers in the 1990s tried to develop variant enzymes as catalysts to drive the chemical reactions necessary for industry and manufacturing.

But the process used before the discoveries made by Dr List and Dr MacMillan led to large amounts of waste.

“During chemical construction, a situation often arises in which two molecules can form, which – just like our hands – are mirror images of each other,” the committee wrote. “Chemists often just want one of these mirror images, especially when producing pharmaceuticals, but it has been difficult to find effective methods of doing so. ”

The concept developed by Dr List and Dr MacMillan – asymmetric organocatalysis – offered a solution. The new process paved the way for the creation of molecules that can be used for purposes as diverse as making lightweight running shoes and inhibiting the progression of disease in the body.

“Why did no one come up with this simple, environmentally friendly and inexpensive concept for asymmetric catalysis earlier?” The committee wrote. “This question has several answers. The first is that simple ideas are often the hardest to imagine.

Who are the winners?

Dr MacMillan is a Scottish chemist and professor at Princeton University, where he also chaired the chemistry department from 2010 to 2015. He received his doctorate. in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, in 1996 before accepting a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. His research focused on innovative concepts in synthetic organic chemistry.

Dr List is a German chemist born in Frankfurt and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. His research team, List Laboratory, is focused on “inventing new strategies for the development of perfect chemical reactions”, according to the institute’s website. His team posted a video on Twitter celebrating her Nobel Prize after the announcement. He got his doctorate. in 1997 from Goethe University in Frankfurt, before being appointed Assistant Professor at the Scripps Research Institute in California. He is also Honorary Professor at the University of Cologne, Germany.