Three ‘click chemistry’ scientists share Nobel prize 🔒

Three scientists who fuelled a revolution in chemistry by devising a way to “click” molecules together like Lego bricks, even inside living organisms, have been awarded the 2022 Nobel prize in chemistry.

Carolyn Bertozzi, at Stanford University, Morten Meldal, at the University of Copenhagen, and K Barry Sharpless, at Scripps Research in California, were honoured for finding and exploiting elegant and efficient chemical reactions to create complex molecules for the pharmaceutical industry, mapping DNA and making designer materials.

The award, announced on Wednesday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, is worth 10m Swedish krona (£804,000), and will be shared equally among the winners. The Nobel committee said the prize was given “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”.

Prof Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel chemistry committee, described the award as “a fantastic prize...