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Nobel in chemistry honors pair for way to build molecules

They were cited for their work in developing a new way for building molecules known as “asymmetric organocatalysis.”

Published October 06,2021
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The Nobel Prize for chemistry has been awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scotland-born scientist David W.C. MacMillan of Princeton University.

They were cited for their work in developing a new way for building molecules known as "asymmetric organocatalysis."

The winners were announced Wednesday by Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The Nobel panel said List and MacMillan in 2000 independently developed a new way of catalysis.

"It's already benefiting humankind greatly," Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, a member of the Nobel panel, said.