Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, Barry Sharpless win 2022 Nobel prize in chemistry

Stockholm, Oct 05: The 2022 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Carolyn R. Bertozzi and Morten Meldal, and Denmark's K. Barry Sharpless "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry."

"The 2022 #NobelPrize laureates in chemistry Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal have laid the foundation for a functional form of chemistry - click chemistry - in which molecular building blocks snap together quickly and efficiently," the Nobel Committee said in a tweet.

Barry Sharpless

Barry Sharpless became the fifth individual to be awarded two Nobel Prizes. He follows in the footsteps of double Nobel Prize laureates John Bardeen, Marie Skłodowska Curie, Linus Pauling and Frederick Sanger. Sharpless was awarded the chemistry prize in 2001 and 2022.

Carolyn Bertozzi

He took click chemistry to a new level. To map important but elusive biomolecules on the surface of cells - glycans - she developed click reactions that work inside living organisms. Her bioorthogonal reactions take place without disrupting the normal chemistry of the cell.

Morten Meldal

Morten Meldal presented what is now the crown jewel of click chemistry: the copper catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. This is an elegant and efficient chemical reaction that is now in widespread use. Among many other uses, it is utilised in the development of pharmaceuticals, for mapping DNA and creating materials that are more fit for purpose.

The winners winners receive a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kroner (about €920,000; $914,000), a Nobel medal and world fame. The prizes will be handed out at a gala dinner in December.

The Nobel Prizes for literature, peace, and economic sciences will be announced from Thursday.