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

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.

两位科学家因开发出一种分子构建工具而获得诺贝尔化学奖，该工具可以以“更绿色”的方式生产许多重要的化合物。

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.

瑞典皇家科学院周三宣布了德国的 Benjamin List 和苏格兰出生的 David MacMillan 的奖项。List 在德国的马克斯普朗克研究所工作，而 MacMillan 是美国普林斯顿大学的教授。

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.”

两位科学家的工作使研究人员能够更有效地生产用于药物和杀虫剂等物质的分子，并且对环境的危害更小。该学院称获奖者的开发方法是“构建分子的巧妙工具”。

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.

制造分子的过程需要将单个原子在特定位置连接在一起。这可能非常缓慢和困难。多年来，化学家只有两种方法——或催化剂——来加速这一过程。这些使用复杂的酶或金属催化剂。

That all changed in 2000, when List and MacMillan independently reported that small organic molecules can be used to do the same job.

这一切都在 2000 年发生了变化，当时 List 和 MacMillan 独立报告说有机小分子可以用来做同样的工作。

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.”

该学院表示，该过程使一些药物的生产变得更加容易，包括抗病毒药和抗焦虑药。它指出，估计全球 GDP 总量的 35%“在某种程度上涉及化学催化”。

John Lorsch is director of the United States National Institute of General Medical Sciences. He likened the scientists' work to “molecular carpentry.”

John Lorsch 是美国国家普通医学科学研究所所长。他将科学家的工作比作“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."

“他们找到了不仅可以加速化学结合的方法，”他说，“而且可以确保它只沿右手或左手方向进行。”

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.

诺贝尔委员会主席 Johan Åqvist 称这种新方法“既简单又巧妙”。“事实上，很多人都想知道为什么我们没有早点想到它，”他补充道。

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 是美国化学学会的主席。他说这两位获奖者开发了“新的魔杖”。他补充说，在他们工作之前，通常的分子构建方法往往会导致环境破坏或危害。

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."

在宣布这一消息后，List表示，该奖项是一个“巨大的惊喜”。他说一开始他不知道麦克米伦也在研究同一主题，他认为他的努力可能会变成他所说的“愚蠢的想法”。但他补充说：“当我看到它奏效时，我确实觉得这可能是一件大事。”

MacMillan said the start of his catalysis work was "a pretty simple idea that really sparked a lot of different research.”

麦克米兰说，他的催化工作的开始是“一个非常简单的想法，确实引发了许多不同的研究。”

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."

他补充说：“我们非常自豪的部分是，您不必拥有大量设备和大量资金就可以在化学领域做出出色的工作。”