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Many carbon compounds are chiral, that is, they can exist in two mirror-image forms that are not superimposible, called enantiomers, like your own right and left hands. Chemical reactions in the body require one or the other of the enantiomers of a given compound. When both forms are ingested, the results can be disastrous, as in the case of thalidomide.
Ryoji Noyori and his research group designed and synthesized chiral compounds such as diphosphine-binapthyl or BINAP which, when complexed with transition metals, form chiral hydrogenation catalysts. The BINAP-ruthenium(II) complex was used to produce the anti-inflammatory agent naproxen in high enantiometric purity and in very high yield. For this important work, Ryoji Noyori shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2001) with William S. Knowles "for their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions". The other half was awarded to K. Barry Sharpless. "The Laureates have opened up a completely new field of research in which it is possible to synthesise molecules and material with new properties. Today the results of their basic research are being used in a number of industrial syntheses of pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, and heart medicines." (See http://www.nagoya-u.ac.jp/noyori/index-e.html.)
Ryoji Noyori was born September 3, 1938 in Kobe, Japan. His father was a research chemist. Noyori earned his B.S. in 1961, his M.S. in 1963, and Ph.D. in 1967, all from Kyoto University. Noyori accepted a position as chair of organic chemistry at Nogoya University in 1968 where he was encouraged to develop a new area of research, different from the natural product research that was already well established. The following year, he worked as a postdoctoral associate with E. J. Corey at Harvard University. According to Noyori, the Harvard experience "led me to my lifelong work in asymmetric hydrogenation" (1).
Ryoji Noyori has remained at Nogoya University since 1970. He was appointed professor in 1972 and, in 2000, Director of the Research Center for Materials Science. He and his wife, Hiroko, have two sons, Elji and Koji.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, Dr. Ryoji Noyori's awards include the Chemical Society of Japan Award (1972, 1985), The J. G. Kirkwood Prize (ACS, 1991), The Tetrahedron Prize (1993), The Keimei Life Science Prize (1994), The Arthur C. Cope Award (ACS, 1997), The Chirality Medal (1997), and The Wolf Prize (2001).
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