Nobel Prize

E.J. Corey, X.-M. Cheng: The Logic of Chemical Synthesis, Wiley – Interscience, 1989. E.J. Corey, A.K. Long, S.D. Rubenstein: Computer-Assisted Analysis in Organic Synthesis, Science, Vol 228, 1985, pp 408-418. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, (press release).  

Products such as plastics, synthetic fibres, paints and pigments, pharmaceuticals and pesticides and many others have become readily available through the dynamic development of organic synthesis (the science of building organic molecules).     There are many ways to build a complex molecule from simple starting materials but to find the simplest way is often difficult. It…

Contents: Based on materials from the 1990 Nobel Poster for Chemistry.

Many organic molecules are three-dimensional and can exist in two mirror image forms, one left handed and one right handed. A synthesis gives, in general, equal amounts of the two mirror image forms of the molecule. These might have completely different biological activity. Natural products, i.e. chemicals found in Nature, are usually either “left- or…

The history of organic synthesis starts with the German chemist Friedrich Wöhler who, in 1828, succeeded to make urea from simple materials. This was the first time when organic (=living) matter was produced from inorganic (=dead) matter. This was not believed to be possible, at the time.      By the end of the nineteenth century…

Swedish har beslutat att utdela 1995 års Nobelpris i kemi till Professor Paul Crutzen, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Mainz, Tyskland (nederländsk medborgare), Professor Mario Molina, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences och Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA och Professor F. Sherwood Rowland, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA för deras…

German hat beschlossen, den Nobelpreis in Chemie für das Jahr 1995 an Professor Paul Crutzen, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Mainz, Deutschland (niederländischer Staatsangehöriger), Professor Mario Molina, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences und Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA und Professor F. Sherwood Rowland, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, USA wegen ihrer…

Extremely low temperatures over Antarctica lead to the condensation of water and nitric acid to form “polar stratospheric clouds” (PSCs). Through chemical reactions on the surface of the cloud particles large quantities of chlorine and bromine, derived from CFCs and other industrially produced gases, are liberated. As the ultraviolet light increases during the spring months…

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone.     Paul Crutzen Max Planck Institute for Chemistry Mainz, Germany Mario Molina Dept. of Earth…

Humans affect the earth’s environment by releasing substances that deplete the protective ozone layer. The Nobel laureates in Chemistry 1995, , and , clarified the mechanisms for the chemical reactions involved. The results have led to extensive limitations on the release of ozone-damaging substances. Read more about the ozone layer and: * * * Ozone…