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It can be applied in many different areas: Nobel Prize laureate on his discovery

“It can be applied in many different areas – new medicines, materials, it can end up in your TV and mundane things like shampoo,” David MacMillan, the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, told “Future Insight”, commenting on his development of asymmetric organocatalysis, which led to him receiving this prestigious prize.

Click here to watch the full interview


“One of the most important parts is the fact that these catalysts are biodegradable, which means they can be recycled and go back into the earth, so they are very good for the environment,” he stressed.

When asked how long it took him to make this discovery, he answered that the whole process started “a long time ago.”

“We tried to make it work in a lot of different ways, and it was not successful. And then one day we had that ‘famous lightbulb moment’… and literally that day it worked,” he said.

On a question about education’s role in shaping people’s research interest, Mr MacMillan emphasised that “education is extraordinarily important.”

“I have had some wonderful teachers along the way,” he pointed out, recalling Larry E. Overman, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, who lit the spark of passion towards organic chemistry in him.

More information on the David MacMillan’s discovery can be found here

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