Catalytic asymmetric synthesis

Three researchers share this years’ Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Dr William S. Knowles, who has been working at Monsanto Company, St Louis, USA; Professor Ryoji Noyori, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, Japan and Professor K. Barry Sharpless, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences rewards the three chemists for: ”their development of catalytic asymmetric synthesis”. Knowles and Noyori receive half the Prize for: “ their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions” and Sharpless is rewarded with the other half of the Prize for: ”his work on chirally catalyzed oxidation reactions”. The discoveries made by the three organic chemists have had a very great impact on academic research and the development of new drugs and materials and are used in many industrial syntheses of drugs and other biologically active compounds. Below is given a background and description of their discoveries.