The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2010 to:
Richard F. Heck, University of Delaware (Newark, Del.)
Ei-ichi Negishi, Purdue University (West Lafayette, Ind.)
Akira Suzuki, Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan)
"for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis"
This chemical tool has vastly improved the possibilities for chemists to create sophisticated chemicals, for example carbon-based molecules as complex as those created by nature itself.
Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling solved that problem and provided chemists with a more precise and efficient tool to work with. In the Heck reaction, Negishi reaction and Suzuki reaction, carbon atoms meet on a palladium atom, whereupon their proximity to one another kick-starts the chemical reaction.
Palladium-catalyzed cross coupling is used in research worldwide, as well as in the commercial production of for example pharmaceuticals and molecules used in the electronics industry.
Richard F. Heck, American citizen. Born 1931 in Springfield, Mass. Ph.D. 1954 from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Willis F. Harrington Professor Emeritus at University of Delaware, Newark, Del.
Ei-ichi Negishi, Japanese citizen. Born 1935 in Changchun, China (former Japan). Ph.D. 1963 from University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.
Akira Suzuki, Japanese citizen. Born 1930 in Mukawa, Japan. Ph.D. 1959, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, both at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
The Prize amount: SEK 10 million to be shared equally between the Nobel Laureates