Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Essay Example

The reactions, thus made possible by these scientists have opened the gates of science to create complex chemical substances, which may be seen as the creation of nature, otherwise. The principals of carbon-based organic chemistry are responsible for the exciting natural phenomenon, which forms the basis of life. This includes colors in flowers, snake poisoning, among others. Taking a cue from nature’s chemistry, human-kind has tried to perform chemical reactions, which use the potential of carbon for providing the basis for creating functional molecules.

Such development in chemistry has given mankind new medicines and revolutionary materials, like plastics.For creating such complex reactions, scientists require the ability to join the carbon atoms together. However, carbon being stable, the carbon atoms do not react with each other easily, as their stable nature does not allow them to do so, under normal circumstances. Accordingly, several methods were tried for binding the carbon atoms together, which included techniques that could make carbon more active.

The test tube reactions, conducted for this purpose, could develop simpler molecules. However, for creating complex carbon molecules, the scientists’ synthesis processes towards the same, gave several unwanted by-products.Therefore, the winning reactions of the three Nobel Prize winners solved this problem, as palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling provided an efficient tool for getting the precise results. The basis of this reaction is the meeting of carbon atoms on a palladium atom, which brings them closer to each other, for starting the required chemical reaction.

While palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions find extensive use for many industries, their advantages for the electronics industry is the most noticeable, as it requires extensive use of carbon molecules. Apart from this, such biological development would enlarge the scope of the pharmaceutical industry, as the development of new drugs and medicines would benefit the industry and human-kind. The treatment of human biological malfunctions can be effectively undertaken with the discovery of this scientific feat, as newer drugs can be developed to counter the complex challenges, facing biology today.

While Richard Heck is an American citizen and Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA.; Ei-ichi Negishi is a Japanese citizen, being a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA. The third winner, Akira Suzuki is a Japanese citizen and is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus, at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan. The three Nobel Laureates shall be sharing, equally, the prize money of SEK 10 million, announced by “The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences”.

(Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010)