Nobel Prize 2022 | Faculty of Chemistry at the Gdańsk University of Technology

On Wednesday 5 October 2022, the Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award for work on an innovative method of organic synthesis (the so-called click chemistry) was awarded to: Carolyn R. Bertozzi (Stanford University; USA), Morten Meldal (University of Copenhagen; Denmark) and K. Barry Sharpless (Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla; California ,USA). It should be mentioned that Barry Sharpless is a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001. It was then that he received an award for his work on asymmetric catalysis.

The current laureates are chemists who specialize in organic synthesis and bioorthogonal chemistry (they study chemical reactions that can occur in living systems without disturbing natural biochemical processes).

Click chemistry is a method of synthesizing new complex chemical compounds, which gives the target product with very high yields in a short time and often in an aquatic environment. Today, "click chemistry" has become a commonly used method in related sciences and in industry - also on the production lines of pharmaceutical companies.

Carolyn R. Bertozzi took "click chemistry" to a whole new level. In her works, she proved that this method can be successfully carried out in living cells without disturbing their normal functioning.

It is worth mentioning that the Nobel Prize was first awarded in 1901. Each of the winners receives a gold medal, an honorary diploma and a cash prize. It is awarded every year in the fields of: medicine or physiology, physics, chemistry, literature, and additionally, the Nobel Peace Prize is also awarded. The Nobel Prize is recognized as the most prestigious award in the world.