Click Chemistry & Bioorthogonal Chemistry
Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal & K. Barry Sharpless
About This Prize
The 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and K. Barry Sharpless “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.” Sharpless coined the concept of click chemistry — modular reactions that are high-yielding, wide in scope, and generate only harmless byproducts. Meldal and Sharpless independently discovered the copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Bertozzi took click chemistry into living systems by developing bioorthogonal reactions that work inside cells without interfering with native biochemistry, opening new frontiers in cell biology and medicine.
Carolyn R. Bertozzi
“The Bioorthogonal Chemistry Journey, from Laboratory to Life”
K. Barry Sharpless
“Click Chemistry: the Certainty of Chance”
Morten Meldal
“Molecular Click Adventures, a Leap from Shoulders of Giants”
Key Concepts
- • Click Chemistry: Modular, reliable reactions that snap molecular building blocks together like a buckle — high yield, wide scope, no harmful byproducts
- • CuAAC: Copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition — the prototypical click reaction forming 1,2,3-triazoles
- • Bioorthogonal Chemistry: Reactions that proceed in living systems without interfering with native biological processes
- • Staudinger Ligation & SPAAC: Copper-free bioorthogonal reactions enabling in vivo labeling of glycans, lipids, and proteins