Chemistry Nobel prize awardee Benjamin List hails his creative team, 'freedom to research'

Nobel laureate Benjamin List has said on Wednesday, 6 October that winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 was “like a dream” and explained how he found out about his achievement while having coffee with his wife before starting with the breakfast. In a telephonic interview, released by the Nobel Prize academy, hours after the two winners of the award were announced in a press conference, List said that he had to “deeply breathe in and out” to feel composed enough to receive “the call.”

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced that the Nobel Prize in chemistry 2021 was jointly awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. Macmillan “for the development of asymmetrical organocatalysis.” In the interview, the German scientist explained the “pleasure of building new things”. He said that as a chemist, “we really think, and maybe its naive or weird, but we really think all molecules have certain beauty to them and then making them, is like making something beautiful.”

List said, “People don’t realise how many great gifts chemists provide to our lives...It’s not just the molecules that are beautiful but also the way to making them...how you make them. And there can be huge difference.”

Speaking about his work and the importance of his research environment, List thanked his host institution which is the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. The German scientist further said, “I also believe what it takes to be creative is freedom” while adding that funding agencies’ trust is also very important. He hailed his team by saying, “To work with these amazing, happy and creative people; it's such a gift.”

List Wishes 'to Go To Extremes'

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner Benjamin List, spoke about the future research at the press conference on Wednesday and revealed that he liked to “go to the extremes.” The German scientist shared a selfie with wife with the academy, and also questioned during the press conference if people could do things that were “just impossible before.” Additionally, the List lab also shared a video of exhilarated members who cheered for the newest Nobel laureate. The official account of the Nobel Prize reshared the video congratulating List from Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.

What did Benjamin List discover?

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has said that Benjamin List and David MacMillan are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for their development of a precise new tool for molecular construction: organocatalysis” which “had a great impact on pharmaceutical research, and has made chemistry greener.”

While researchers, for the longest time believed that there are just two types of catalysts, metals and enzymes, List and MacMillan separately developed a third type of catalysis. It is called asymmetric organocatalysis and builds upon smaller organic molecules. Johan Åqvist, who is chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a statement, “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.”

IMAGE: AP