China News Service, Beijing, October 6th, Stockholm News: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on the 6th local time that it has decided to award the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the German scientist Benjamin List and the American scientist David Mack. Millen (David WC MacMillan), to commend the two for their contributions to the development of "asymmetric organic catalysis".

　　"Construction of molecules is a difficult art." The award committee pointed out in the press release issued that day that Benjamin List and David Macmillan developed an ingenious tool for molecular construction: organic catalysis ( organocatalysis).

This tool has a huge impact on drug research and makes chemistry greener.

　　The award committee stated in the press release that catalysis is a basic tool for chemists, but researchers have long believed that in principle, only metal and enzyme catalysis are available.

Benjamin List and David Macmillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry because they independently developed a third type of catalysis based on small organic molecules in 2000. Namely asymmetric organic catalysis.

　　The award committee said that organic catalysis is not only environmentally friendly, but also cheap to produce.

Since 2000, organic catalysis has developed at an alarming rate.

Benjamin Lister and David Macmillan have been leaders in this field, and they have demonstrated that organocatalysis can be used to drive a large number of chemical reactions.

Using these reactions, researchers can now construct any molecule more efficiently.

Organic catalysis is maximizing the benefits of mankind in this way.

　　Benjamin List was born in Germany in 1968 and graduated from Frankfurt University in 1997. He is currently the director of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany.

　　David Macmillan was born in the United Kingdom in 1968 and graduated from the University of California in 1996. He is currently a professor at Princeton University in the United States.

　　The two scientists will share a bonus of 10 million Swedish kronor (about 7.32 million yuan).

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