Nobelprize.org:
Richard Heck, Ei'ichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki are the winners
of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The three researchers
have each devised chemical processes that use a palladium
catalyst to form carbon–carbon bonds between certain
types of organic molecule. In processes named after each of the
winners, reactants bind to palladium, whose empty 5
s orbital provides a venue for the reactants to adjust
their molecular orbitals to configurations that favor binding.
Naturally occurring drugs, including the anticancer drug Taxol
(shown here), are among the molecules that form via
palladium-catalyzed reactions. Heck is affiliated with the
University of Delaware in Newark. Negishi is affiliated with
Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Suzuki is
affiliated with Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan.
