第1362期：Creators of Molecule Building Tool Win Nobel Prize

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第1362期：Creators of Molecule Building Tool Win Nobel Prize

文字內容:

Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a molecule-building tool that can produce many important compounds in a “greener” way。

兩位科學家因開發出一種分子構建工具而獲得諾貝爾化學獎，該工具可以以“更綠色”的方式生產許多重要的化合物。

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the awards Wednesday for Germany’s Benjamin List and Scotland-born David MacMillan。 List is with Germany’s Max Planck Institute， while MacMillan is a professor at America’s Princeton University。

瑞典皇家科學院週三宣佈了德國的 Benjamin List 和蘇格蘭出生的 David MacMillan 的獎項。List 在德國的馬克斯普朗克研究所工作，而 MacMillan 是美國普林斯頓大學的教授。

Work by the two scientists has permitted researchers to more effectively produce molecules for things like medicines and

pesticides

and with less environmental harm。 The academy called the winners’ development method “an

ingenious

tool for building molecules。”

兩位科學家的工作使研究人員能夠更有效地生產用於藥物和殺蟲劑等物質的分子，並且對環境的危害更小。該學院稱獲獎者的開發方法是“構建分子的巧妙工具”。

The process of making molecules requires the linking of individual atoms together in specific positions。 This can be very slow and difficult。 For many years， chemists had only two methods —— or

catalysts

—— to speed up the process。 These used either complex enzymes or metal catalysts。

製造分子的過程需要將單個原子在特定位置連線在一起。這可能非常緩慢和困難。多年來，化學家只有兩種方法——或催化劑——來加速這一過程。這些使用複雜的酶或金屬催化劑。

That all changed in 2000， when List and MacMillan independently reported that small

organic

molecules can be used to do the same job。

這一切都在 2000 年發生了變化，當時 List 和 MacMillan 獨立報告說有機小分子可以用來做同樣的工作。

The process has made the production of some drugs easier， including an antiviral and an anti-

anxiety

medication， the academy said。 It noted that an estimated 35 percent of the world’s total Gross Domestic Product， GDP， “in some way involves chemical catalysis。”

該學院表示，該過程使一些藥物的生產變得更加容易，包括抗病毒藥和抗焦慮藥。它指出，估計全球 GDP 總量的 35%“在某種程度上涉及化學催化”。

John Lorsch is director of the United States National Institute of General Medical Sciences。 He likened the scientists‘ work to “molecular

carpentry

。”

John Lorsch 是美國國家普通醫學科學研究所所長。他將科學家的工作比作“分子木工”。

“They’ve found ways to not only speed up the chemical joining，“ he said， “but to make sure it only goes in either the right-handed or left-handed direction。”

“他們找到了不僅可以加速化學結合的方法，”他說，“而且可以確保它只沿右手或左手方向進行。”

Johan Åqvist， chair of the Nobel panel， called the new method as “simple as it is ingenious。” “The fact is that many people have wondered why we didn’t think of it earlier，” he added。

諾貝爾委員會主席 Johan Åqvist 稱這種新方法“既簡單又巧妙”。“事實上，很多人都想知道為什麼我們沒有早點想到它，”他補充道。

H。N。 Cheng is president of the American Chemical Society。 He said the two winners had developed “new

magic wands

。” He added that before their work， the usual molecule building methods often resulted in environmental damage or harm。

H。N。 Cheng 是美國化學學會的主席。他說這兩位獲獎者開發了“新的魔杖”。他補充說，在他們工作之前，通常的分子構建方法往往會導致環境破壞或危害。

Speaking after the announcement， List said the award came as a “huge surprise。” He said at the beginning he did not know that MacMillan was working on the same subject， and he thought his effort might turn out to be， what he called， a “stupid idea。” But he added： “When I saw it worked， I did feel that this could be something big。”

在宣佈這一訊息後，List表示，該獎項是一個“巨大的驚喜”。他說一開始他不知道麥克米倫也在研究同一主題，他認為他的努力可能會變成他所說的“愚蠢的想法”。但他補充說：“當我看到它奏效時，我確實覺得這可能是一件大事。”

MacMillan said the start of his catalysis work was “a pretty simple idea that really

sparked

a lot of different research。”

麥克米蘭說，他的催化工作的開始是“一個非常簡單的想法，確實引發了許多不同的研究。”

He added： “The part we’re just so

proud

of is that you don’t have to have huge amounts of equipment and huge amounts of money to do fine things in chemistry。”

他補充說：“我們非常自豪的部分是，您不必擁有大量裝置和大量資金就可以在化學領域做出出色的工作。”