Metathesis: a "Change-Your-Partners" dance - chemistry Nobel Prize - 2005

Abstract

On 5th October 2005, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2005 jointly to Yves Chauvin, Institute of French Petroleum, France, Robert H Grubbs, California Institute of Technology, USA and Richard R Schrock, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis. This increasingly important organic process allows researchers to synthesize certain kinds of complex molecules that were previously difficult and inefficient to make. Their research has opened the door to faster and more efficient methods for developing new drugs and polymers. Imagination will soon be the only limit to what molecules can be built in the laboratory!.