From apples to ylang-ylang, the range of scents and flavours that fill Nature’s vast garden of plants are formed chiefly from specific combinations of volatile organic compounds, known collectively as essential oils. For decades the tools used in chemistry were deemed ill-equipped to untangle these complex and unstable mixtures, until Otto Wallach devised ways in…

Most chemicals that have an important role in biology exist as a pair of almost identical twins. These twins, called chiral enantiomers, contain exactly the same atoms, but they appear as mirror images that do not fit on top of each other, like placing your left hand on top of your right hand. Such a…

Swapping goods and possessions can lead to unexpected surprises, and in the case of chemistry this is no exception. One of the most popular and useful reactions that chemists use to build new molecules involves a curious process in which particular atoms switch their molecular partners, and the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewarded three…

What links natural products like rubber and cellulose with artificial plastics is that they are made up from extraordinarily large molecules. The idea of how these molecules originate or are formed was believed to be set in stone, until Hermann Staudinger provided an audacious concept that in time helped to unravel their structural secrets. Staudinger’s…

The 1938 Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewarded a prime example of how the bonds between different scientific disciplines can form in the most unexpected places. In this instance, a chemist’s curiosity for unusual interactions between molecules provided a crucial biological connection to understanding essential food nutrients important for health and disease. Richard Kuhn was fascinated…

Ever since it became clear that vitamins in food play an essential role in maintaining health and preventing diseases, these nutrients found themselves the subject of intense scrutiny by scientists eager to identify the active components and their chemical make-up. The 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewarded Walter Haworth and Paul Karrer for their individual…

There’s more to chlorophyll than simply providing plant leaves with their natural green colouring. Chlorophyll is part of the engine that drives photosynthesis, possibly the most important reaction on earth, in which light is absorbed from the sun and converted into chemical energy to fuel the growth of plants. Our understanding of the chemistry of…

One of the main tasks of organic chemistry is to investigate and reproduce artificially the carbon-containing chemicals that help drive the vital processes in animals and plants. This is important not only for broadening knowledge of chemical and biological phenomena, but also for seeking ways of applying chemistry to everyday life. Uncovering and replicating Nature’s…

The second Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emil Fischer, who showed how establishing key relationships in biology can be a matter of finding the right chemistry. Fischer showed how piecing together intricate chemical details about substances in Nature that are essential for life can reveal vital information about their functions and uncover unexpected…

The achievements awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Chemistry demonstrate how the secret to constructing synthetic versions of chemicals from scratch is to work backwards. Elias Corey developed and refined a novel, reverse approach to synthesizing organic compounds – that is, compounds that contain carbon atoms – and in the process he transformed this discipline…