Science Is Beautiful

Molecule Makers Win 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

October 6, 2010

Three scientists, Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, share this year’s Nobel prize in Chemistry “for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”. Carbon-to-Carbon molecules form the backbone of life on Earth. While the presence of such molecules on earth is ubiquitous, synthesizing such a molecule in lab is not that easy as Carbon is very stable and doesn’t react easily with other Carbon to form bond. The trio,while working independently, have come up with chemical reactions where such molecules can be synthesized using Palladium as a catalyst.

Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling solved that problem and provided chemists with a more precise and efficient tool to work with. In the Heck reaction, Negishi reaction and Suzuki reaction, carbon atoms meet on a palladium atom, whereupon their proximity to one another kick-starts the chemical reaction. Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling is used in research worldwide, as well as in the commercial production of for example pharmaceuticals and molecules used in the electronics industry. [Nobelprize.org] 

I will add more information about their work later during the day.

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