Two Nobel Prize in two decades: American chemist Karl Barry Sharpless.

    photo:reuter

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Wednesday announced the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The coveted prize went to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Karl Barry Sharpless for the development of click chemistry and bio-orthogonal chemistry.

While Carolyn R. Bertozzi and Morten Meldal are the first-time recipients of the Nobel, Karl Barry Sharpless won the top science award for the second time in his career. He last won the Nobel in 2001 for his work around chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions.

The 2022 Chemistry prize was given to the three chemists for laying the foundation for a functional form of chemistry, click chemistry, and utilising it in living organisms. “This year’s Prize in Chemistry deals with not overcomplicating matters, instead of working with what is easy and simple. Functional molecules can be built even by taking a straightforward route,” Johan Aqvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in the announcement.

 Prof. Karl Barry Sharpless is only the fifth person in history to win two Nobel in a lifetime. (Photo: American          Chemical Society)

American chemist Karl Barry Sharpless works with the Scripps Research Department of Chemistry. He received the 2022 Nobel Prize for research that dates back to when he first introduced the idea of "click chemistry," a type of straightforward chemistry in which undesirable byproducts are avoided and reactions take place rapidly.

Born in 1941, Karl planned to go to medical school, but his professor persuaded him to major in chemistry. His undergraduate studies were completed at Dartmouth College in 1963, and his P.hD. was earned at Stanford University in 1968. The Chemist has built a renowned career on building catalysts, and the Sharpless Lab at Scripps Research looks for practical novel reactivity and all-encompassing approaches to selectively directing chemical reactions.

BREAKING NEWS:
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2022 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.” pic.twitter.com/5tu6aOedy4

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2022

For his research on chirally catalysed oxidation processes, he received the Nobel Prize in 2001. "The Nobel laureates have created a brand-new area of study where it is now conceivable to create molecules and materials with novel features. The outcomes of their fundamental study are being used in a variety of industrial pharmaceutical product syntheses, including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications, and heart medications "The Chemistry Nobel Prize for 2001 was announced.

Carolyn Bertozzi and Morten Meldal also received the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Carolyn R. Bertozzi is connected to Standford University, whilst Morten Meldal is connected to the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. The azide-alkyne cycloaddition, an elegant and effective chemical reaction that is currently used widely, particularly in the production of medications, for mapping DNA, and for producing materials that are better suitable for their intended application, is credited to Morten Meldal.

While this was going on, Carolyn Bertozzi created click reactions, which function inside living things without interfering with the regular chemistry of the cell.