Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Scientists for Creating a Tool to Build Molecules
The New York Times
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan for their development of a new tool to build molecules, work that has spurred advances in pharmaceutical research and lessened the impact of chemistry on the environment.
Their work, while unseen by consumers, is an essential part in many leading industries and is crucial for research.
Chemists are among those tasked with constructing molecules that can form elastic and durable materials, store energy in batteries or inhibit the progression of diseases.
But that work requires catalysts, which are substances that control and accelerate chemical reactions without becoming part of the final product.
“For example, catalysts in cars transform toxic substances in exhaust fumes to harmless molecules,” the Nobel committee said in a statement. “Our bodies also contain thousands of catalysts in the form of enzymes, which chisel out the molecules necessary for life.”
The problem was that there were just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes.
In 2000, Dr. List and Dr. MacMillan — working independently of each other — developed a new type of catalysis that reduced waste and allowed for novel ways to construct molecules.
It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon small organic molecules.
“This concept for catalysis is as simple as it is ingenious, and the fact is that many people have wondered why we didn’t think of it earlier,” said Johan Aqvist, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
Why is the work important?
Virtually everyone on the planet has come across a product that has benefited from a chemist’s expertise. The process of using catalysts to break down molecules or join them together is essential in industry and research.
Catalysis is what makes plastics possible; it also allows the manufacture of products such as food flavorings to target the taste buds and perfumes to tickle the nose.
About 35 percent of the world’s gross domestic product involves chemical catalysis.
But until 2000 and the discovery by the Nobel laureates, the tools at the disposal of chemists were the equivalent of hammers and chisels.
“If we compare nature’s ability to build chemical creations with our own, we were long stuck in the Stone Age,” the Nobel committee wrote.
In nature, enzymes do the work of constructing the molecular complexes that give life its shape, color and function.
The catalysts previously used by chemists could be broken down into two groups: metals or enzymes.
“Metals are often excellent catalysts because they have a special ability to temporarily accommodate electrons or to provide them to other molecules during a chemical process,” the committee wrote. “This helps loosen the bonds between the atoms in a molecule, so bonds that are otherwise strong can be broken and new ones can form.”
But to work, some metal catalysts need to be in an environment free of oxygen and moisture — hard to achieve in many large-scale industries. And many such catalysts are heavy metals, which can be harmful to the environment.
In nature, enzymes are used as catalysts with astounding precision. That is the process by which complicated — and vital — molecules such as cholesterol and chlorophyll are formed.
Because enzymes are so efficient, researchers in the 1990s tried to develop enzyme variants as catalysts to drive the chemical reactions needed by industry and in manufacturing.
But the process used before the discoveries made by Dr. List and Dr. MacMillan led to vast amounts of waste.
“During chemical construction, a situation often arises in which two molecules can form, which — just like our hands — are each other’s mirror image,” the committee wrote. “Chemists often just want one of these mirror images, particularly when producing pharmaceuticals, but it has been difficult to find efficient methods for doing this.”
The concept developed by Dr. List and Dr. MacMillan — asymmetric organocatalysis — offered a solution. The new process paved the way for creating molecules that can serve purposes as varied as making lightweight running shoes and inhibiting the progress of disease in the body.
“Why did no one come up with this simple, green and cheap concept for asymmetric catalysis earlier?” the committee wrote. “This question has many answers. One is that the simple ideas are often the most difficult to imagine.”
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词汇：
1.molecular
molecular /məʊˈlɛkjʊlə/ 表示“分子的”，英文解释为“Molecular means relating to or involving molecules.”，如：the molecular structure of fuel 燃料的分子结构。
2. spur
spur表示“鼓动；激励；鞭策；刺激；鼓舞”，英文解释为“If one thing spurs you to do another, it encourages you to do it.”举个🌰：
It's the money that spurs these fishermen to risk a long ocean journey in their flimsy boats.
是金钱驱使这些渔民驾驶单薄的小船冒险出海远航。
🎬电影《龙之心3：巫师的诅咒》（Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse）中的台词提到：To spur the clans to war. 激励部族发起战争。
3. pharmaceutical
pharmaceutical /ˌfɑːməˈsjuːtɪkəl/ 表示“制药的；配药的；卖药的”，英文解释为“connected with making and selling drugs and medicines”，如：pharmaceutical products 药物，pharmaceutical companies 制药公司，the pharmaceutical industry 制药业。
4. elastic
表示“有弹性的”，英文解释为“An elastic material is able to stretch and be returned to its original shape or size.”举个🌰：
A lot of sportswear is made of very elastic material.
许多运动装都是用弹性很大的材料制成的。
5. inhibit
表示“阻止；阻碍；抑制”，英文解释为“to prevent sth from happening or make it happen more slowly or less frequently than normal”举个🌰：
A lack of oxygen may inhibit brain development in the unborn child.
缺氧可能阻碍胎儿的大脑发育。
6.catalyst
catalyst /ˈkætəlɪst/ 表示“催化剂”（a substance that makes a chemical reaction happen faster without being changed itself），也有“促使变化的人；引发变化的因素”的含义，英文解释为“a person or thing that causes a change”举个🌰：
I see my role as being a catalyst for change.
我认为我的角色是促成变革。
📍 2020年政府工作报告Part 15中就出现类似的说法，以开放促改革促发展 make opening up acatalystfor reform and development，字面意思就是：让开放成为改革和发展的催化剂，以...(sth.) 促进 ... 就可以说：make sth. a catalyst for ...
7.toxic
toxic /ˈtɒksɪk/ 表示“有毒的；引起中毒的”，相当于poisonous，如：toxic waste/chemicals/effluent 有毒的废料/化学品/废水，牛津词典2018年度词汇就是：Toxic.
8.exhaust
作名词，表示“（引擎排出的）废气；（尤指汽车的）尾气；排气管”，英文解释为“the waste gas from an engine, especially a car's, or the pipe the gas flows through”。
9.fumes
表示“（浓重难闻，有时有害的）烟，烟雾，气”，英文解释为“strong, unpleasant, and sometimes dangerous gas or smoke”。
10.enzyme
enzyme /'enzaɪm ;ˋɛnzaɪm /表示“酶”，英文解释为“a chemical substance that is produced in a plant or animal, and helps chemical changes to take place in the plant or animal”
11. chisel
chisel /ˈtʃɪzəl/ 作名词，表示“凿子”，作动词，表示“（用凿子）凿，雕，刻”，英文解释为“to use a chisel”举个🌰：
She chiselled a figure out of the marble.
她用大理石雕刻出一个人像。
12.atalysis
catalysis /kəˈtælɪsɪs/ 表示“催化作用”，英文解释为“the process of making a chemical reaction happen more quickly by using a catalyst”。
13.asymmetric
asymmetric /ˌæsɪˈmɛtrɪk/ 表示“不对称的；不匀称的”，英文解释为“with two halves, sides, or parts that are not exactly the same in shape and size”。
14.ingenious
表示“（人）灵巧的；（物品等）制作精巧的；（方法等）巧妙的”，英文解释为“Something that is ingenious is very clever and involves new ideas, methods, or equipment.”如：a truly ingenious invention 一项的确新颖的发明。
15.expertise
表示“专门技能（知识）；专长”，英文解释为“a high level of knowledge or skill”举个🌰：
We admired the expertise with which he prepared the meal.
我们很羡慕他那一手烹调绝活。
16.flavoring/flavouring
表示“调味品；调味香料”，英文解释为“something that is added to food or drink to give it a particular taste”。
17. taste buds
表示“味蕾”，英文解释为“a group of cells, found especially on the tongue, that allow different tastes to be recognized”
18. flavoring/flavouring
表示“调味品；调味香料”，英文解释为“something that is added to food or drink to give it a particular taste”。
19. taste buds
表示“味蕾”，英文解释为“a group of cells, found especially on the tongue, that allow different tastes to be recognized”
20. astounding
表示“令人震惊的”，英文解释为“If something is astounding, you are shocked or amazed that it could exist or happen.”举个🌰：
The results are quite astounding.
这些结果非常令人震惊。
区分：
📍astonishing令人惊讶的；惊人的（very surprising），举个🌰：
Her first book enjoyed an astonishing success.
她的第一本书取得了惊人的成功。
21. variant
表示“变体；变种”，英文解释为“A variant of a particular thing is something that has a different form from that thing, although it is related to it.”举个🌰：
The quagga was a strikingly beautiful variant of the zebra.
白氏斑马是一种极其美丽的斑马变种。
22.pave the way
表示“（为…）铺平道路，（为…）创造条件”，英文解释为“If something paves the way for/to something else, it makes the other thing possible.”举个🌰：
Scientists hope that data from the probe will pave the way for a more detailed exploration of Mars.
科学家们希望探测飞船发回的数据会为更深入地探索火星提供条件。
