An American took home a Nobel Prize for the third time in as many days for his work developing a more environmentally-friendly way to build molecules. American David W.C. MacMillan joined German Benjamin List in winning the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”.
The video above shows the Wednesday announcement, as well as reacted from the Nobel Committee, as well as the winners.
“I received a text and a phone call, and I received a text, my wife actually woke up and she’s… the phone was buzzing and she was annoyed because that woke her up,” MacMillan said Wednesday. “I called someone and said, I think this is a prank. I’m going back to sleep. So I went back to sleep and then all of a sudden my phone started going ballistic.”
Until the beginning of the millennium, chemists had to use either complicated enzymes or metal catalysts to build molecules. That all changed when List and MacMillan independently reported small organic molecules can be used to do the same job.
The new tools have helped scientists produce molecules more cheaply, efficiently and safely. They have also been important for developing medicines and minimizing drug manufacturing glitches.
“Compared to metal catalysts, organic catalysts is a more sustainable alternative,” Nobel Committee member Peter Somfai said. “It has been estimated that catalysis is responsible for about 35 percent of the world’s GDP, which is a pretty impressive figure. So then if we have a more environmentally friendly alternative, it’s expected that that will make a difference.”
After awarding the prize, Nobel Committee of Chemistry Johan Aqvist added “organic molecules can be dangerous as well, but in principle, this allows for a greener chemistry.”
Not only is MacMillan the third American to win a Nobel prize in as many days, but he’s also the second Princeton professor to win the prize in as many days. On Tuesday, Syukuro Manabe won the Nobel Prize in Physics “for the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”.