The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022: Awarded jointly to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry"

Submitted by shiruken t3_xwaecq in science

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 was awarded jointly to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry."

>Sometimes simple answers are the best. Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 because they brought chemistry into the era of functionalism and laid the foundations of click chemistry. They share the prize with Carolyn Bertozzi, who took click chemistry to a new dimension and began using it to map cells. Her bioorthogonal reactions are now contributing to more targeted cancer treatments, among many other applications.

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[deleted] t1_ir5fmqw wrote

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corkypig t1_ir69sby wrote

Same here! My entire PhD is based on Grubbs catalysts and olefin metathesis, I'm really happy that org chem is again getting credit!

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[deleted] t1_ir5iiq2 wrote

This has been expected for a long time.

Click chemistry is quite amazing. Having done thousands of these things in lab, all you really need to do with the classic reaction is throw in some vitamin C in an aqueous copper solution and boom, you've got rapid labeling of cells, tissues, etc. It's quite an amazing reaction. There are versions that are more biocompatible and don't even require copper these days. A very useful technique that is widely used. Fantastic, very clean way of creating protein conjugates too.

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jangiri t1_ir6di2d wrote

I will say I do love the format of this Nobel award, really giving it to a vertical slice of chemistry, from the synthetic chemists who came up with the techniques, to Bertozzi who is just brilliant in the way she constructs experiments to understand biology. It makes the point that often the best chemistry is tremendously collaborative and adjacent fields can skyrocket each other with even modest interaction. I'm having trouble finding ways how people can make themselves mad about this award, it seems incredibly well deserved.

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Aj_Caramba t1_ira9mrt wrote

I am just random passerby with minimal underasting of chemistry, but from what I have read about this, it seems absolutely brilliant. Why are people mad about the price?

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jangiri t1_iram4hj wrote

Realistically nobody should be mad about this prize. It's very well deserved

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civver3 t1_ir5hmb6 wrote

Only going to become more important as development of biologics accelerates.

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Substantial-Visual35 t1_ir5ln1m wrote

I really like to pretend that I understand what most of these posts are saying But it's getting out of my hand ...I can't even comprehend what the title says anymore :(

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[deleted] t1_ir5q7q3 wrote

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jangiri t1_ir6cy2q wrote

I've heard the story of how Sharpless came up with the Click reaction and it was basically him listing a bunch of qualities in a reaction that would fill this need in biology. Him and his lab then just searched for it and they found the click reaction and then it blew up. It's the combo of knowing what biology research required, and the organic chemistry that could make that happen which really makes this such an elegant development.

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[deleted] t1_ir60z0o wrote

Most chemical reactions in orgo require chemical solvents....that is not compatible with life. These Nobel prize winners discovered a special chemical reaction that can take place basically in water. That is very useful because life is in water from the protein level to cells all the way up to moving organisms. The nobel prize winners also demonstrated the utility of the reaction in living things as well as on biological molecules like proteins. The reaction is a fantastic way of labeling things in a cell or in an animal or maybe even a human. It can be used to make biomolecules like adding a drug to a protein easily that can be used as a therapy. You can also click together DNA to make what ever you want, and living cells have been shown they're capable of tolerating it. There are also many applications outside of biology....for example all sorts of useful polymers can be made by clicking together molecules.

It's an extremely useful and powerful chemical reaction suitable for life that helps unlock many mysteries of a cell or living organism. It is incredibly useful for industrial purposes as well because you can avoid a lot of toxic solvents.

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amyts t1_ir6ddip wrote

Question: does this research bring us a step closer to producing Von Neumann Universal Constructors?

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Aardark235 t1_ir6kvut wrote

Nah… way to expensive for most chemistry. Useful for high-cost low-volume applications such as antibody drug conjunction

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