Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In News

• Recently, the Nobel Prize in chemistry for 2022 was awarded to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless.
  • The three have been awarded for their work in ‘click chemistry’.

Click Chemistry

• Click chemistry is utilized in the development of pharmaceuticals, for mapping DNA and creating materials that are more fit for purpose. 
  • The term “click chemistry” is used to describe reactions that are fast, high-yielding and clean, meaning that they do not produce a lot of unwanted side-products.

Significance

• It helps to develop “bioorthogonal” reactions that operate safely inside living organisms without disrupting their biochemistry. Using bioorthogonal reactions, researchers have improved the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals.
• The breakthrough allowed scientists to track the movement of biomolecules in cells and so tease apart the complex workings of life.
• Replicating reactions that involve bonds between carbon atoms is expensive and often leads to side reactions and loss of material.
• In click chemistry, instead of trying to make carbon atoms react with each other, it focuses on using smaller molecules that already have a complete carbon frame.

Source:TH