On October 6, 2021, German scientist Benjamin Lister and American scientist David McMillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions in the development of asymmetric organic catalysis.

2025/04/2923:55:43 hotcomm 1551

At 5:45 pm Beijing time on October 5, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded: this year's awards were awarded to Barry Sharpless, Morten Meldal, and Carolyn Bertozzi respectively.

Nobel Prize Committee stated in its award speech that sometimes simplicity is the best answer. Barry Sharples, Morton Melda, and Caroline Bertosi were awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Sharplas and Melda opened the era of "pragmatism" in chemistry and laid the foundation for click chemistry. And Bertosi elevates click chemistry to a new dimension and uses it in cells. At present, the bioorthogonal reaction she pioneered has been applied in many aspects, including the realization of targeted cancer therapy.

This year's Chemistry Award, like the Physiology or Medicine Award, once again gave the award to the foundational scientist who created a new discipline. One of the advantages of click chemistry is that it can be easily, quickly and highly selectively chemical synthesis. Although this field has only been born for twenty years, it has been used on a large scale for drug production.

And all this starts in 2001, when Sharples won his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In a publication at the time, he proposed a chemical reaction called "click chemistry" and listed several criteria that should be met. One of them is that the reaction should occur with aerobic and water. He also provided several existing reaction cases and believed that these reactions fulfilled the new concept he proposed.

However, no one knew at that time that this classic reaction that has become almost synonymous with click chemistry today - copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cyclization reaction. At that time, this reaction was about to be discovered in Melda's laboratory in Denmark .

A large number of decisive scientific progress often occurs at the most unexpected times, and this is how Melda is. At the beginning of this century, he developed ways to find potential drugs. One day, he and his colleagues conducted a completely routine reaction experiment. But when Melda analyzes the reactions that occur in the reaction vessel, unexpected things happen. Alkyne reacts with the wrong end of the acid halide molecule, and the azide and alkyne form a ring-like structure, namely triazole.

Melda realized that copper ion controls the reaction, so in principle, there is actually only one substance formed. The acid halide should have been bound to alkynes, but it is also more or less left in the container at this moment. Therefore, for Melda, the reaction between the azide and the alkyne that I saw that time was significantly different from usual.

In June 2001, he first showed his discoveries at a seminar in San Diego, USA. In 2002, he published a paper in the journal Science showing that this reaction can bind many different molecules together.

In the same year, Sharples published a new paper in addition to Melda's paper. The paper is associated with a copper catalytic reaction between azide and alkynes, which suggests that the reaction is effective and reliable in water and describes it as an "ideal" click reaction.

Turn the lens to Bertosi again. In the 1990s, biochemistry and molecular biology developed at an extremely rapid pace. Using new approaches to molecular biology, scientists around the world are mapping genes and protein atlas, trying to understand how cells work.

However, a group of molecules received little attention: Glycan . Glycans are interesting molecules, but they cannot be studied using new tools in molecular biology. Therefore, understanding how glycan works is a huge challenge. Only a few researchers are ready to try climbing the mountain, and Bertosi is one of them.

At this time, news about new discoveries about click chemistry spread in the chemistry community.Therefore, Bertosi is very clear that the chemical group she uses, i.e., azide, can quickly react with a compound with alkyne-carrying chemically with copper ions.

However, the problem is that copper is toxic to organisms. So she started to delve into the literature again. In 2004, she published a copper-free click reaction, azide alkyne cycloaddition reaction promoted by ring tension, and demonstrated that it can be used to track glycans in cells. The above is the story about the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Let’s get to know the next three scientists respectively.

Barry Sharpless won the Nobel Prize for the second time, and is one of the founders of click chemistry

After more than 20 years, Barry Sharpless won the Nobel Prize for the second time. He is currently the Chair Professor of W. M. Keck at the Scripps Institute of the United States and a Distinguished Professor of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1984 and was elected as a member of the American National Academy of Sciences in 1985.

Figure | Barry Sharpless (Source: Data Picture)

It can be said that Sharpless's contribution in the field of asymmetric catalysis has laid a solid foundation for this field. Many of his achievements in this field are named by human names for related reactions, and some of them have been included in organic chemistry textbooks and have been widely used.

Among them, Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation reaction is an enantioselective oxidation reaction that can be used to prepare optically active 2,3-epoxy alcohol from primary or secondary allyl alcohol , and has been further used in the synthesis of sugars, terpenes, leukotrienes, pheromones, antibiotics, etc.

is the same as Sharpless epoxidation reaction. In modern organic synthesis , Sharpless asymmetric bihydroxylation reaction is also one of the most important basic reactions. Most olefins can be converted into ortho-diols, achieving high yield and high optical activity, and the reaction conditions are mild, and no low temperature, anhydrous, and anaerobic conditions are required. In 2001, Sharples shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two other scientists.

In 1998, Sharples proposed the initial concept of click chemistry, and then gradually improved the synthesis. The core concept of this concept is: synthetic chemistry should be guided by molecular functions, and the chemical synthesis of various molecules can be quickly and safely completed with the help of simple splicing of small units.

Starting from the concept of click chemistry, he discovered two most representative reactions in 2002 and 2014: monovalent copper-catalyzed azide-terminal alkyne cycloaddition reaction (CuAAC) and hexavalent sulfur-fluoro-exchange reaction (SuFEx).

At present, click chemistry is one of the most useful and eye-catching synthesis concepts, promoting the development of materials chemistry, chemical biology, medicinal chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and other fields.

For many years, Sharplace has maintained close communication with the Chinese academic community. Since 2016, Sharplas has signed a special professor agreement with the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and established an independent "click chemistry" laboratory to carry out research on organic fluorine click chemistry.

Morten Melda: CuAAC click reactions were independently developed

Morten P. Meldal is a Danish chemist. He currently serves as a professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Melda's most famous achievement was independently developed by Valery V. Fokin and Sharples.

Figure | (Morten Meldal (Source: Data Photo)

Melda developed several peptide synthesis technologies and instruments in the early stages of his career. Since then, he has also developed multi-column synthesis for peptide and organic synthesis instruments, as well as assembled large isolation mixture libraries. He also proposed for the first time (cycloaddition) of acetylene and azide, which can be used for peptide and protein coupling, polymers, and materials science.After

, Melda's team further discovered that the reaction was completely orthogonal to most functional group chemistry. He has since developed a solid carrier that can promote the fusion of solid-phase polypeptides and polypeptide organic chemistry, as well as solid-phase chemistry biology and protein chemistry.

In Melda's recent research results, he developed an optical coding technology. His current research direction also focuses on the merger of organic chemistry and peptide chemistry on solid support.

In 2019, Melda co-founded a company called Betamab Therapeutics ApS, which was founded based on the concept of beta bodies, namely peptide mimics of antibodies. However, the company closed in 2021.

Carolyn Bertozzi: It is exploring the use of click chemistry to fight the new coronavirus

Carolyn Bertozzi is an American chemist and currently works at Stanford University. He was born in Boston, USA. His father, William Bertosey, was a physicist and his sister was a mathematician. She won the MacArthur Genius Award at the age of 33. In 2010, she became the first woman to win the Lemaelson-MIT Award. In 2014, Bertosi became the editor-in-chief of the American Chemical Society's first peer-reviewed open-access journal, ACS Center Science.

Figure | Carolyn Bertozzi (Source: Data Picture)

It is famous for its extensive research in chemistry and biology. It has coined the term "bioorthogonal chemistry" and used it for chemical reactions compatible with living systems. Bertosi mainly studies the sugar biology of underlying diseases, such as cancer, inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis .

She promotes people's understanding of cell surface oligosaccharides involved in cell recognition and intercellular communication. She used bioorthogonal chemistry technology to study the sugar calyx that surrounds cell membranes, and this discovery promoted the development of the field of biotherapy.

She also developed related tools, one of which is to create chemical tools to study glycans in life systems. At the same time, she also pays attention to the development of nanotechnology for detecting biological systems. Currently, her team is using click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry technology that she invented to develop treatment methods for the new coronavirus.

Nobel Prize Committee contacted Bertosi on the spot. Her first reaction was that this was not true. Obviously, she did not expect that she would win this year's Nobel Prize. Bertosi said that she had no time to think about what winning the award means to her, but it would definitely have a great boost to the development of basic research in related fields.

Previous Nobel Prize winners of Chemistry

Before Sharples, there were only four scientists in history who had won the Nobel Prize twice, namely: Marie Curie (1903 Prize in Physics, 1911 Prize in Chemistry), Linus Carl Pauling (1954 Prize in Chemistry, 1963 Peace Prize), John Bading (1956, 1972 Prize in Physics), and Frederick Sanger (1958, 1980 Prize in Chemistry).

In the development of human beings, chemistry has played an indispensable role and is closely related to life.How can you miss the Nobel Prize as such an important subject? Whether it is Rutherford who studies radioactive substances , or Madame Curie , which discovers radioactive elements, they have left a brilliant mark in the long history of chemistry research, and are still shining brightly. Let’s take a look at the lives of the most popular Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry and take you into their stories:

◆ 1901 Year-2021 The most popular Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry

Ernest Rutherford

(Ernest Rutherford)

born: 1871 August 30 On the day, New Zealand Nelson

died: 1937 October 19 On the 2019th, Cambridge, UK,

, when he won the award, he was in: Manchester, UK, University of Victoria,

Reason for winning: commended his contributions in the research on element decay and chemical properties of radioactive substances html ml2

Field: Nuclear Chemistry

Award status: Single-person award

Achievement: Obtained 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1896, he conducted a series of more in-depth research on the phenomenon of radiation. In 1899, he confirmed that there were at least two significant types of radiation: Alpha particle radiation and Beta particle radiation.

He found that gas is generated when radiation phenomena occur. He and his assistant Frederick Sodi jointly proposed the hypothesis that radioactive substances can produce helium . In 1902, they stated a revolutionary theory that elements can form other elements through decay.

Marie Curie

(Marie Curie, née Sklodowska)

born: 1867 December 7, Warsaw, Poland

died: 1934 July 4 On the 2018th, the French province of Haute Savoy,

When she won the award, she was in: Paris, France, Sorbonne University,

Why she won the award: commended her contributions to the discovery of radium and polonium, separation of radium, and research on the properties of radium and compounds of radium. These studies have promoted the progress of chemistry.

Field: Nuclear Chemistry

Award status: Single-person award

Biography: Mary Scalodoska was born in a family of middle school teachers in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland. Her parents believe in the power of education. Later, she moved to Paris to continue her studies and met Pierre Curie . Pierre Curie later became her husband and colleague in the field of radiation. In 1903, the Curie couple won the Nobel Prize in Physics .

1906, Pierre died, Madame Curie continued their research and became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in 1911. During World War I , Madame Curie organized a mobile X-ray team to rescue the wounded. Madame Curie's daughter Irena and her husband Frederick Jorio later won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Achievement: won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. Henry Becquerel discovered radiation in 1896, which inspired the Curie couple to explore it further. They detected a lot of substances and minerals to track the signs of radiation and found that asphalt uranium ore is more radioactive than uranium, so they infer that asphalt uranium ore must contain other radioactive substances.

Finally, they successfully extracted two elements unknown at the time: polonium and radium, both of which were more radioactive than uranium.

won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After the Curies first discovered polonium and radium, Mary continued to study their performance.

1910, Mary successfully extracted the metal element radium, confirming the existence of radium. In addition, she confirmed and documented the properties of radioactive elements and their compounds. Radioactive compounds have become important sources of radiation, both in scientific research and in the field of medicine (mainly used to treat tumors).

Mario Molina

(Mario J. Molina)

born: 1943-19 On the day, Mexico City

When they won the award, they were in: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, MIT

Reason for winning: commends their contributions in the field of atmospheric chemistry, especially in the formation and decomposition of ozone

Field: Atmosphere and Environmental Chemistry

Award status: and the other two won the award

Biography: Mario Molina was born in Mexico City and dreamed of becoming a chemist since she was a child. Considering that it is important for a chemist to understand German , he went to a Swiss boarding school at the age of 11. He then returned to the National University of Mexico to study chemical engineering, and then went to Europe and the UC Berkeley to continue his work.

His work at Berkeley University was encouraging and discovered how Freon destroyed the ozone layer . Mario Molina now works at the University of California, San Diego. He married his second wife, Guadalupe Alvarez in 2006 and has a son to his ex-wife Louisa Tan Molina.

Achievement: won the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The atmosphere around the earth contains a small amount of ozone. The ozone molecule is composed of three oxygen atoms , which plays a significant role in absorbing ultraviolet rays in sunlight.

If there is no ozone, the sun will have a negative impact on life on the earth. In 1974, Mario Molina and Sherwood Roland confirmed that CFC gas (chloro-fluoro-carbon, chlorofluoro-carbon, often called freon) had a destructive effect on ozone in the atmosphere.

And Freon has many uses, including: refrigerator refrigerant and compression sprayer spray, etc. Controlling the use of Freon can slow down the damage to the ozone layer.

Linus Carl Pauling

(Linus Carl Pauling)

Born: 1901 February 28, Oregon, USA,

Diet: 1994 August 19, 2004 On the 2019th, California,

The unit was awarded when he won the award: Pasadena, California, Caltech

Reason for winning: commended his contribution to the nature of chemical bonds and the explanation of the application of research results to the structure of complex substances

field: chemical bonds, theoretical chemistry

award status: single-person award

Biography: Linus Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon, USA. His family comes from the Prussian farmer lineage. His father is a pharmacist and drug salesman.

After he received his bachelor's degree from Oregon State University in , he received his Ph.D. from Caltech in Pasadena, and he has been in contact with Caltech for his subsequent career.

In the 1950s, Linus Pauling was involved in the anti-nuclear movement and was therefore labeled as a suspicious Communist, which caused his passport to be revoked from time to time. Linus and Ava Helen Pauling have four children.

Achievement: won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The development of quantum mechanics in the 1920s not only had a huge impact on the physics community, but also the chemical community. In the 1930s, Linus Pauling was at the forefront of the times in using quantum mechanics to understand and describe chemical bonds (the way atoms and form molecules).

Linus Pauling has a wide range of research interests in the field of chemistry. For example, he is committed to analyzing the chemical structure of important macromolecules in the field of biology. In 1951, he published the chemical structure of α-helix, which is a common structure of proteins.

won the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. The explosion of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki became the turning point in Linus Pauling's career. He joined other scientists in protesting the nuclear weapons war through speeches and writing. Linus Pauling is a driving force in the Pagwash movement. The purpose of the Pagwash movement was to weaken the role of nuclear weapons in international politics, and the individuals and organizations that launched the movement received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995.

1959, Linus Pauling drafted the famous "Hiroshima Call", a summary statement released after the Fifth World Conference on the Banning of Atomic Bombs and Hydrogen Bombs. Linus Pauling was the main promoter when nuclear powers (including: the United States, the former Soviet Union and the United Kingdom) signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The treaty came into force on October 10, 1963. On the same day the treaty came into force, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Linus Pauling was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which was postponed in 1962.

Irena Jolio-Curie

(Irène Joliot-Curie)

born: 1897 December 12, Paris, France,

died: 1956 March 17 On the 2018th, Paris, France,

When they won the award, they were in: Paris, France, Radium Institute

Reason for winning: Recognize their contributions to the synthesis of new radioactive elements

Field: Nuclear Chemistry

Award status: Share with another person

Biography: Irena Curie was born in Paris and is the daughter of Pierre Curie and Marie Curie. Marie Curie is the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry. Irena Curie followed her mother on the X-ray Rescue team during World War I, responsible for providing X-ray mobile devices.

After the war, she returned to University of Paris and continued her studies, and then worked at the research institute founded by her parents. In 1926, she married Frederick Jorio. At the Radium Institute, they worked together to win the Nobel Prize.

Achievement: The radiation principle of radioactive substances has become an important method for studying atoms. In 1934, when Irena Yorio Curie and Frederick Yorio bombarded a thin aluminum sheet with α-particles ( helium nucleus ), a new radiation left trace was found in cloud chamber . The couple found that even if the radiation source was removed, the radiation from the aluminum sheet still existed.

This is because, after bombardment of α particles , aluminum atoms are converted into phosphorus radioisotope . This means that for the first time in history, radioactive elements have been created manually. In 1935, the Jorio Curie and his wife won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Aziz Sanjar

(Aziz Sancar)

born: 1946-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09-09 On the day, Türkiye's Savur

when he won the award: United States, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Reason for winning: commends them in DNA Contributions made in the research of repair mechanism

Award status: and the other two won the award

Biography: Aziz Sanjar was born in a well-off family in Savur, southeastern Turkey. His parents were not educated, but they valued their children's education. Sanjar received his medical degree from the University of Istanbul in 1969.

1977 received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Aziz Sanjar now teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School. His wife Gwen Poltz Sanjar is also a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the School of Medicine.

Achievement: 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Living cells contain DNA molecules that carry the gene information of organisms, and the survival and development of organisms depend on the stability of DNA. However, DNA is not absolutely stable and they will be damaged.

1983, through research on bacteria, Aziz Sanjar discovered and demonstrated the repair process of a certain enzyme protein repair molecule on DNA molecules damaged by ultraviolet rays. This discovery enhances people's understanding of issues such as living cells' functioning, the causes of cancer and cellular aging.

Qian Yongjian

Born: 1952 February 1, New York, USA,

died: August 24, 2016 On the 2018th, Oregon, , Eugene,

, when they won the award, the unit was: , University of California, San Diego, Howard Hughes Medical Institute,

Reason for winning: commends their contributions in the discovery and research of green fluorescent protein

Domain: Biochemistry

Award status: Won the other twoWonderful awards

Birth: Qian Yongjian Born in New York, USA in 1952, his ancestral home is Lin'an, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. He is the thirty-fourth generation grandson of the Wu Yue Kingdom. In 1972, Qian Yongjian obtained a bachelor's degree in , , chemistry and physics from Harvard University.

1977, obtained a Ph.D. in science from a University of Cambridge, UK. From 1977 to 1981, he served as a researcher at the University of Cambridge. From 1982 to 1989, he served as associate professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He started in 1989 and served as a professor at the University of California, San Diego until his death on August 24, 2016.

Achievement: 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Color development means play a crucial role in biological research. Qian Yongjian began to invest in the research of green fluorescent proteins in 1992 and successively developed green, red, yellow and blue light fluorescence, allowing researchers to inject fluorescence of different colors into protein cells and discover biological programs that were difficult to observe in the past. Qian Yongjian is therefore known as the "father of fluorescent protein transformation".

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

(Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin)

Bored: 1910 May 12, Cairo, Egypt,

Diet: 1994 July 29 On the 19th, Hipston-sur-Stoll, UK,

When you win the award, you will be in: Oxford, UK, Oxford University & Royal Society

Reason for winning the award: commends his contribution in the research on determining the structure of biological macromolecules using X-ray technology

Field: Biochemistry, Structural Chemistry html ml4

Awards: Winning separately

Biography: Dorothy Crawford Hodgkin's research career began in a chemistry textbook she obtained in her childhood, which contains experiments related to crystallography. After graduating from Oxford University , Hodgkin still struggled to find a job as a woman despite her excellent academic performance.

Finally, Professor John Demund Burnard of Cambridge University gave her a chance, at that time, Professor Burnard was already a pioneer in the field of modern molecular biology. After earning her PhD from Cambridge University, Dorothy Crawford Hodgkin returned to Oxford in 1934, where she spent her subsequent career. Dorothy Crawford Hodgkin made outstanding contributions to the field of molecular biology.

Achievement: 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. When X-rays pass through the crystal structure, they will present a clear and accurate diffraction peak map, through which the structure of crystal can be determined. In the 1930s, scientists increasingly used this method to determine the structure of complex macromolecules.

Dorothy Crawford Hodgkin successfully determined the penicillin structure in 1946 through a large number of X-ray diffraction images, through a large number of calculations and keen analysis of data. In 1956, she analyzed and determined the structure of vitamin B12 (the most complex vitamin).

◆ Number of Nobel Prizes in Chemistry

11-27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed a will to use the largest part of his estate to award various awards, including the later Nobel Prize in Chemistry. As Mr. Nobel said in his will, "These property is used to reward those who make the most important discoveries or breakthroughs in the field of chemistry."

From 1901 to 2021, a total of 113 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry were awarded. In 1916, 1917, 1919, 1924, 1933, 1940, 1941 and 1942, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was vacant in eight years.

Regarding the reasons for the vacancies of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Nobel Foundation explained: "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is used to reward the greatest chemical breakthrough. If no matching research was produced in that year, the Nobel Prize will be left until the second year. If no corresponding Nobel Prize is still generated in the second year, the money will be included in the special fund of the Nobel Foundation. During the two world wars, relatively few Nobel Prizes were generated.

◆ Number of winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1901-2021 The number of people won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The two Nobel Prize in Chemistry was Frederick Sanger, who won the prizes in 1958 and 1980, respectively.

Figure丨Frederick Sanger, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and 1980,

◆ The youngest Nobel Prize winner

To date, the youngest Nobel Prize winner is Frédéric Joliot-Curie. At the age of 35, he and his wife Irène Joliot-Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935.

pic丨Curies couple

◆ Women who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Among the 187 Nobel Prize winners, there are 7 women. Among them, Marie Curie, Dorosy Crowthot Hodgkin won the Nobel Prize alone.

The seven women are:

1911, Marie Curie (Marie Curie was also the winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics)

1935, Irène Joliot-Curie (Irène Joliot-Curie, the eldest daughter of Marie Curie, the wife of Jolio Curie)

1964, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin)

2009, Ada Yonath

2018, Frances H. Arnold

2020, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna

Figures | 1964 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,

◆ The family that won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

3 Curie family is the most famous "Nobel Prize Family". In 1903, Marie Curie and Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie Curie also won the Nobel Prize for the second time in 1911. Their eldest daughter, Irena Yorio Curie and her husband Yorio Curie, won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their youngest daughter, Eve Curie, works at UNICEF. Her husband, Henry LaPois, won the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF in 1965.

Figure 丨 Curie's family

Other "Nobel Prize Family" (at least one member won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry) make the most important discoveries or breakthroughs in the field of chemistry.

Hans von Euler-Chelpin (father), 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Ulf von Euler (son), 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Figure 丨 Hans von Oyle Chelpin (left) and Ulf von Oyle Chelpin (right)

Arthur Kornberg (father), 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Roger D. Kornberg (son), 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Pictures | Arthur Cohenberg (left) and Roger Cohenberg (right)

◆ Those who were forced to reject the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

There are two Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry because of pressure from the authorities. Hitler banned German scientists from accepting the Nobel Prize, including two Nobel Prize winners: Richard Kuhn (1938) and Adolf Butnert (1939). In addition, Gerhard Domak, the winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, also rejected the Nobel Prize for the same reason. Later, their Nobel Prize certificates and medals were reissued, but there was no corresponding bonus.

◆ The winner of the last Nobel Prize in Chemistry

On October 6, 2021, German scientist Benjamin List and American scientist David MacMillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to recognize their contributions in the development of asymmetric organic catalysis.