2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded for a New Way of Building Molecules

The three researchers won the chemistry prize for their discovery of ways to click the building blocks together and form complex molecule that can be used for everything from drug development to crafting entirely new materials.

Click chemistry, a way to link two molecules together in a simple reaction that creates larger, more complicated forms of molecule, was developed by K. Barry Sharpless and Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen. A member of the committee likened it to Legos. Sharpless won the 2001 prize for his work on chemical reactions.

Carolyn has taken this approach into the realm of living cells. In a method called bio-orthagonal chemistry, Bertozzi figured out how to attach light-emitting compounds to biologicalmolecules. She and other scientists were able to track the molecule inside the cell and learn how it contributes to disease.

When she heard that she had won the prize, she was shocked. I don't think this is real. By the minute, it is getting more real. The chemistry prize has been won by eight women.

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