The Royal Society responds to Professor Carolyn R Bertozzi, Royal Society Foreign Member, winning the Chemistry Nobel Prize 2022 alongside Morten Meldal and K Barry Sharpless

04 October 2022

The Royal Society offers its congratulations to the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022, including Royal Society Foreign Member, Professor Carolyn R Bertozzi.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded this year’s prize to Morten Meldal, K Barry Sharpless and Carolyn R Bertozzi “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”.

Linda Partridge, Biological Secretary and Vice President of the Royal Society said, “I warmly welcome the news that Professor Carolyn Bertozzi, a Foreign Member of the Royal Society, has been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Morten Meldal and Barry Sharpless.

“Click chemistry, a reaction that ‘clicks’ molecules together, was developed by Morten Meldal and Barry Sharpless. Professor Bertozzi paved the way for "bioorthogonal chemistry", chemical reactions which are compatible with living systems, without disturbing the substances or reactions that occur in these complex systems. With click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry, we can improve drug delivery – making sure medicines are delivered to the right places inside the body and stay there.”

Professor Carolyn Bertozzi was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2018 for her work in chemistry and biology - with an emphasis on studies of cell surface glycosylation pertinent to disease states.

Nobel Prizes 2022