The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 was awarded jointly to Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki “for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis”.
Translated from Svenska Dagbladet:
Their research has led to improved possibilities to produce sophisticated chemicals. It’s all about complex organic molecules for which the need is steadily increasing. The need for new drugs to treat cancer, for example, or slow deadly viruses. Even agriculture can benefit from this technology to protect crops.Their work “has improved the chemists’ ability to better meet all these aspirations”.
Even the electronics industry makes use of this research for OLED‘s composed of organic molecules that are transparent and can be used to produce super-thin displays. The palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling is one of the keys in the process.Another example is discodermolide which in the future could be a life-saving chemotherapy. This substance was discovered in the 1980’s when a marine sponge was discovered at 33 meters depth in the Caribbean Sea. The creature does not have eyes and legs, and because of its inability to escape has become a master at making complex toxic molecules. Their’ methodology has made it possible to produce discodermolide artificially and studies have shown that it can fight cancer cells. The element palladium can act as a meeting place for carbon atoms and can then act as a catalyst.
The uniqueness of this method is that it can be implemented “under mild conditions and with high precision “.
Richard Heck, 79 years old, is a U.S. citizen and a Professor at University of Delaware.
Ei-Ichi Negishi, Japan, is 75 years old. He is a Professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, USA.
The 80-year-old Akira Suzuki is a Japanese citizen and Professor at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
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