Nobel Chemistry Prize for research work on metathesis

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Yves Chauvin, Robert Grubbs and Richard Schrock for their development of metathesis reactions - an efficient and environmentally-friendly way of building new molecules for use in pharmaceuticals production.

In metathesis reactions, double bonds are broken and made between carbon atoms in ways that cause atom groups to change places. This happens through the use of a particular catalyst.

In 1971, Yves Chauvin was able to explain how metathesis reactions worked and what types of metal compound act as catalysts; Richard Schrock was the first to produce an efficient metal-compound catalyst in 1990, and two years later Robert Grubbs developed an even better catalyst, stable in air, that has since found many applications.

Thanks to their work, synthesis methods have been developed that are more efficient, simpler to carry out and environmentally friendlier.