On the afternoon of October 5, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced. American female scientist Caroline R. Bettozi, Danish scientist Motten Meldar and American scientist K. Barry Sharples won the award for their contributions to "the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry." Among them, K. Barry Sharples still scored twice. After winning the Nobel Prize for in 2001, he won the Nobel Prize for again after 21 years. Many young scholars from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Nanjing University have different degrees of intersection with the winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the reporter contacted them for an interview.
[Interpretation: What is "click chemistry"]
"click chemistry" and "click chemistry" are similar to the simplest way
click chemistry, sometimes translated as link chemistry, is a synthesis concept first proposed by Professor K. Barry Sharples. Researcher Xie Ran from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Nanjing University said that nucleic acids and protein are common biological macromolecules in nature. The complex chemical structure and rich biological functions are achieved by small molecule units with the help of links between carbon-heteroatomic bonds. K.Barry Sharples was inspired by this and proposed the concept of click chemistry in 2001. "In layman's terms, it's like two Lego pieces splicing together, A+B forms AB so that the chemical synthesis of various molecules is quickly and reliably." Xie Ran said that click chemistry has similarities with the philosophical idea of "the simplest way", and the two molecular entities are coupled together through the simplest and most effective method. Many people will vividly call click chemistry "click chemistry", just like the sound of two things being spliced together.
Shortly after K. Barry Sharples proposed the concept of click chemistry, he and another winner of the year, Morten Meldal, each independently reported the current chemist in the crown of chemistry: copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction. This is a delicate and efficient chemical reaction that has been widely used in drug development, mapping DNA profiles and manufacturing more matching materials.
It is worth mentioning that K. Barry Sharples won the second prize. In 2001, he won the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to chiral catalytic oxidation reaction. The concept of click chemistry has made great contributions to the field of chemical synthesis. It has become one of the most useful and attractive synthesis concepts in many fields such as drug development and biomedical materials.
Bioorthogonal chemistry illuminates cells without destroying normal chemical reactions
click chemistry provides a prototype blueprint for bioorthogonal reactions. The third winner of the year, Caroline R. Bettozi, was the reason for the award to take click chemistry to a new dimension.
In order to draw an important but elusive biomolecule - glycan on the cell surface, she developed a click chemical reaction that can be used in organisms, namely bioorthogonal reactions. Caroline R. Bettozi's bioorthogonal reaction does not disrupt the normal chemical reactions of cells. These reactions are now used globally to explore cells and track biological processes, and have achieved this response in living animals. Using bioorthogonal reactions, researchers have improved the targeting of cancer drugs and are currently being tested in clinical trials.
"Bioorthogonal reaction is actually a search for it in the crowd." Xie Ran said that so far, no chemical reaction can meet all the requirements of bioorthogonal reactions in an absolutely strict sense, and there is more or less room for improvement, but this does not prevent scientists from constantly exploring and optimizing with this goal.
Xie Ran's doctoral supervisor Peking University Professor Chen Xing, as well as Peking University Professor Chen Peng and Professor Wang Chu are the first domestic leading figures in chemical biology to engage in the research and application of biological orthogonal reactions in China. They have also made a series of exploratory work for the development of chemical biology in my country. It is worth mentioning that Professor Chen Xing once studied with Caroline Ruth Bertosi.
The emergence of bioorthogonal chemical reactions has brought revolutionary technology to scientists' in-situ research on the process of life and has become one of the core directions of the emerging interdisciplinary field of chemical biology. "This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is actually an affirmation of the entire field of chemical biology." Xie Ran believes that in just over 20 years since the concept of click chemistry was proposed, bioorthogonal chemistry has gone through a series of development processes of upgrading from a simple living cell system to a more complex biological living body. Click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions have shown broad application prospects in life science research, pharmaceutical research and development, clinical diagnosis and treatment, and will inevitably bring greater benefits to mankind.
[Nobel Prize winner K. Barry Sharples in the eyes of students]
The "old naughty boy" of science was first proposed 21 years ago
Professor Li Li from the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Nanjing University. From 2015 to 2018, he conducted a three-year postdoctoral research in chemical biology at the Scripps Institute in the United States. One of his joint postdoctoral supervisors is K. Barry Sharples. Interestingly, another of his joint postdoctoral supervisors, Professor Wu Peng, is a doctoral student of Barry and is also a postdoctoral fellow for another Nobel Prize winner Caroline this year. "He is really an 'old boy' in the scientific world." Li Jie commented on his mentor, "Barry only has academics in his mind, and only cares about how to make chemistry cooler."
K. Barry Sharples' scientific research path was very smooth. He won almost all awards from the chemistry and scientific community. In 2001 alone, he won three major events: Franklin Medal, , Wolf Chemistry Prize and Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2019, he won the highest award from the American Chemical Society - the Priestry Medal, achieving a Grand Slam.
In 2001, K. Barry Sharples won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his first time for "asymmetric organic catalysis". According to the practice of Nobel Prize awards, the winner will be given a short report time and talk about his scientific research results. Unexpectedly, K. Barry Sharples did not say that his award-winning project was "asymmetric organic catalysis", but instead mentioned his next focus on scientific research, "click chemistry". This approach was unique at that time. You know, if you won the Nobel Prize once, you have enough capital to "lie down". But K. Barry Sharples has already begun a new research direction.
His research seems to be "all high school students can do it", and its practical application is very wide
"The birth of click chemistry is actually related to Barry's wife and the director of his research institute." Li Jie told reporters that after K. Barry Sharples proposed the concept of "click chemistry", the people closest to him set a new "small goal" for him: the current molecular chemistry synthesis plan is still a little bigger. Can it be "simplified" and simpler?
Since then, "simple" has become the new goal of K. Barry Sharples' scientific research. Not only did he accept the challenge, he also took it seriously to make the concept of "click chemistry" more and more easy to understand. After the Nobel Prize press conference on October 5, there were even high school chemistry Olympiad teachers on the Internet commented: This chemistry reaction is too simple, even high school students can do it!
"To have such social comments is actually a success of the mentor to some extent." Li Jie said in an interview with reporters that although the chemistry discovered by K. Barry Sharples is so simple that it seems that "high school students can do it", it has greatly affected other scientific fields. "Chemistry is a central science, providing ideas and tools for other fields, and should allow others to better understand and apply. The tutor was able to "scort twice" in the Nobel Prize selection, largely because his research has penetrated into many fields such as life sciences and materials science."
is a "workaholic". In 2019, he was elected as a foreign academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences
This very personalized "old naughty boy" is different from readers' stereotypes about scientific researchers. He not only talks a lot, but also talks about things like "all over the world". "Barry called into the office, and he couldn't get out for two or three hours."Li Jie smiled and recalled the time he spent with his mentor, "He was very kind, and even more so when chatting, and he would talk about chemistry from American movies to chemistry. At first it was difficult for you to quickly find the focus of his speech. Later, after following the logic of the tutor, I realized that his academic thoughts and understanding of reactions were integrated into the conversation. "
Although there is no boundary when chatting, K. Barry Sharples is very rigorous in scientific research, and is even a standard "workaholic". Li Jie told reporters that the tutor has his own unique routine. He works in the laboratory from 2:00 pm and will not rest until 2:00 pm. In the middle, K. Barry Sharples hardly rests. During the work that has been working all night, K. Barry Sharples also has accidents. A carelessness in the laboratory made him pay a heavy price. Because of the nuclear magnetic field K. Barry Sharples, who did not wear goggles at the time, lost one eye. Later, he wrote this experience into a short article and published it, warning teachers and students of chemistry to wear protective glasses carefully in the laboratory at any time and do a good job in safety protection.
reporter learned that K. Barry Sharples was elected as a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. He is also a guest teacher at from many domestic research institutes and universities such as the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. . Before 2019, I went to China for scientific research exchanges every year and spent a period of time. His laboratory has always had Chinese students and scholars studying for doctoral degrees or engaging in postdoctoral research, and has cultivated a group of outstanding talents for the Chinese chemistry community.
【Link】
Sharplas became the fifth scientist to win two Nobel Prizes
History has only 4 scientists who won two Nobel Prizes, B Mrs. Li (Physics Award, Chemistry Award), Bading (Physics Award, Physics Award), Pauling (Chemistry Award, Peace Award), Sango (Chemistry Award, Chemistry Award). On October 5, 2022, American scientist Sharples became the fifth scientist to win two Nobel Prizes.
Barry has always been very frank about academic honors. On October 5, after receiving a call from the Nobel Prize Organizing Committee, he went to bed directly.
Yangzi Evening News/Zi Niu News Reporter Yang Tianzi
proofreading Xu Heng
