Pioneers Of Lego-like 'Click Chemistry' Win Nobel Prize

Scientists Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create new compounds and that offer insight into cell biology, Johan Ahlander, Ludwig Burger and Marie Mannes reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The field of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry has been harnessed to improve the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals now being tested in clinical trials, along with a host of health, agricultural and industrial applications.

The field of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry has been harnessed to improve the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals now being tested in clinical trials, along with a host of health, agricultural and industrial applications.

"Combining simple chemical building blocks makes it possible to create an almost endless variety of molecules," the award-giving body said in a statement, adding that "sometimes simple answers are the best."

Danish winner Meldal described click chemistry as a way to build complex structures and link them as if they were pieces of Lego, the plastic construction toy.

The technology is employed globally to learn more about cells and track biological processes. It also allows assembly in the lab of stable molecules without creating undesirable by-products that had hobbled older methods.

Sharpless joins an elite band of scientists who have won two Nobel prizes. The other individuals are John Bardeen who won the Physics prize twice, Marie Curie, who won Physics and Chemistry, Linus Pauling who won Chemistry and Peace and Frederick Sanger who won the Chemistry prize twice.

"I'm absolutely stunned, I'm sitting here and I can hardly breathe," Bertozzi said from California after the academy reached her by telephone with the news she had won.

She added that as part of her work, she and her team managed to visualize and understand cell surface structures known as glycans, leading to a new idea in cancer immune therapy.

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