Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005


The greatest event was indeed the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Yves Chauvin (Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP), Rueil-Malmaison, France), Robert H. Grubbs (California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA) and Richard R. Schrock (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA) for "the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis".

It is the second time in this decade that Catalysis is rewarded by the World's highest scientific distinction. According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, this "change-your-partners dance… represents a great step forward for "green chemistry", reducing potentially hazardous waste through smarter production. Metathesis is an example of how important basic science has been applied for the benefit of man, society and the environment.

Information about the Laureates can be found in
- the press release of the Nobel Foundation (http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/2005/press.html),
- magazines of national chemical societies like C&E News (2005, 83(41), 8), and http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/83/i41/8341chemistry.html, L'Actualité Chimique (2005, 290-291, 6-9), and http://www.lactualitechimique.org/larevue_article.php?cle=1370, Chemistry World (2005, 10, 42-44), and http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/restricted/2005/november/prize.asp, Nachrichten aus der Chemie (2005, 53, 1112-1113) and http://www.gdch.de/taetigkeiten/nch/jg2005/h11_05.htm#mag.
- and institutional web sites :
http://www.ifp.fr/IFP/en/currentevents/as.htm
for Yves Chauvin,
http://pr.caltech.edu/media/Press_Releases/PR12748.html
for Robert H. Grubbs,
and
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2005/schrock.html
for Richard R. Schrock).

Finally, the Nobel Lectures
- Yves Chauvin: Appliquée ou fondamentale, la recherche est une question de curiosité
- Robert H. Grubbs: Olefin Metathesis Catalysts for the Synthesis of Molecules and Materials
- Richard R. Schrock: Multiple Metal-Carbon Bonds for Catalytic Metathesis Reactions

could be listened in video via: http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/2005/chauvin-lecture.html, http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/2005/grubbs-lecture.html, and http://nobelprize.org/chemistry/laureates/2005/schrock-lecture.html.