The Chemistry Research that Won the Nobel Prize in 2022

Karl Barry Sharpless, Morten P. Meldal, and Carolyne R. Bertozzi are the recipients of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The creation of Click chemistry and Bio-orthogonal chemistry, which involves joining molecules, has earned them this award. Sharpless is now the fifth person to ever win a second Nobel Prize. As both the terms have a highly catchy appearance, we all need to understand what these two terms mean and what makes them so significant that they were awarded the Nobel Prize.

Click Chemistry

Click chemistry is not a chemical reaction or a subfield of science; it is an idea. Karl Barry Sharpless first proposed the idea of click chemistry in the early 2000s or the late 1990s. The click chemistry theory states that two simple molecules must be able to interact or unite together to produce a bigger molecule. The expression 'click chemistry' was adopted because when two simple nearby molecules connect the resulting sound exhibits like a click, and it is comparable to the sound of a seatbelt buckle fastening together two things. Thus, the mechanism through which molecules combine to create a clicking sound is known as click chemistry.

Sharpless had the idea because he was the first to understand the click chemistry principle. The interesting idea of simply clicking the two molecules together to connect spread throughout the chemistry community. Chemists immediately started thinking about applications and practical implementations. Morten Meldel entered at that point and discovered how to apply the first reaction that resulted in precisely controlling how molecules interacted. He chose copper for the buckle (catalyst) because it is a metal and many other metals, including copper, are harmful to human health. Carolyn Bertozzi made it possible to click the molecules in our bodies, in living cells, by using sugars or a sugar complex as buckles in our bodies and cells. Click chemistry is particularly effective in the identification, localization, and classification of biomolecules. It has not only been used in biological environments; it has also been applied in chemoproteomic, pharmaceutical, and different biomimetic contexts.

The advantage of grouping molecules is that you can click one shiny molecule onto another in your body to make things shine; this allows you to track things like where diseases arise, processes occur and treatments are administered in your body. It is going to be used in the biofield to tag a molecule to identify a specific illness, such as the location of cancer cells that are spreading. The new concept assisted in the development of new medicines, pharmaceutical research, and the study of materials. When you visit them, you will discover that material chemists and polymer chemists use this click chemistry to create larger molecules. In the coming future, people will continue to use the idea to create complex compounds and in return to create more potent materials. Three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize because, despite the field's size and scope, it can be applied to the more significant interest of humanity in a variety of ways.

Bio-orthogonal Chemistry

Click chemistry is the rapid and irreversible fusion of two synthetic molecules. A few of these reactions are 'bio-orthogonal,' meaning they can take place inside living cells without interfering with the biochemical processes.

To comprehend how cells function, Carolyne Bertozzi was working on the mapping of genes and proteins. She concentrated on glycans, which are complex carbohydrates found on cell surfaces. Her initial goal was to identify a molecular handle to which she could attach the fluorescent label. She employed numerous chemicals. She finally decided to use the azide group. She provided modified sugar that had an azide on it to the cells. The azide acted as the modified sugar integrated into the cell surface glycans, acting as a typical molecular handle. She then attached a fluorescent label to azide, which had thus become an effective molecular handle, to track glycans inside the cell. However, there were numerous limitations.

She was aware of 'click chemistry,' but to begin with, the reaction between the handle and fluorescent molecule must be bio-orthogonal, which means that it cannot disrupt the cell's regular biological functions. A click reaction requires copper ions while cells are poisoned by copper ions, so it is not bio-orthogonal as a result it is not used. Then, she did a comprehensive search of the literature and found a 1961 paper showing how alkyne can be easily changed into a ring-shaped molecule and then connected with azide. The strain encouraged alkyne azide cycloaddition without the need for copper. She came up with a plan. The triazole was created by combining the alkyne with azide. Bertozzi tracked glycans on the surface of cells by mixing triazole with the glowing green substance. Bertozzi tracked glycans using strain-promoted click reaction. Her findings show the fluorescently labeled glycans as green and the cell nucleus as blue. She created a strain-promoted alkyne azide cycloaddition technique, a copper-free click reaction that can take place inside a biological system without posing any negative effects.

The work of Carolyne Bertozzi enabled researchers all around the world to efficiently map genes and proteins to track biological processes using click chemistry. Cell mapping, tracking biological processes, and tracking biomolecules inside the cell are all common applications of bio-orthogonal chemistry.