A trio of chemists, Prof. Barry Sharpless, Prof. Carolyn Bertozzi and Prof. Morten Meldal have been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2022 for their development of “Click Chemistry” and bio-orthogonal chemistry. The term “Click Chemistry” was coined by Prof. Barry Sharpless and co-workers in 2001 which underpins green chemistry. Today, 2022’s Nobel laureates’ invention is used across all the fields of science that use chemistry-chemical biology, drug discovery, polymer chemistry, material sciences and more.
An inspirational quote from a two-time Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, by Professor K. Barry Sharpless “I don’t need the approval of others, but, professional, seeing my chemistries being used by other chemists is as motivational as it is gratifying.”
Impact of ‘Click Chemistry’ that may “change the world”:
The most complex chemical structures are not made by chemists, they are made by nature. ‘Click Chemistry’ mimics nature. In recent times, the need for sustainable development has emphasized safer, cleaner and environmentally benign processes and nature-like technologies for a greener tomorrow. In order to achieve this, it is highly desirable for both academia and industry to develop and commercialize all chemical products and processes including drug and bioactive molecules development with the end goal of improving not only human health and socio-economic benefits, but to also address challenges of climate change, sustainability, environmental impact and low carbon circular economy. ‘Click Chemistry’ in a broad sense is a tool for green and sustainable chemistry for chemical reactions and organic synthesis that can maximize the formation of single product in high yields, eliminate by-products, optimize atom economy, enable easy purification processes and seek greener solvents like water that are inherently environmentally and ecologically benign. Most interestingly, the ‘Click’ in ‘Click Chemistry’ signifies how two or more diversely functionalized small molecules can be coupled together simply, quickly and reliably, in much the same way as a seatbelt clips into its buckle. Thereby, creating interesting chemical structures and new products with broad spectrum of utility in the field of synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry and agriculture science. This allows scientists and researchers to rapidly bring the greatest benefits to mankind at the turn of the millennium.
‘Click Chemistry’ and contributions from Prof. (Dr.) Arun K Sinha’s group:
It is needless to say that this recognition that ‘Click Chemistry’ is receiving is of great significance. To all the scientists around the world who have contributed to research and studies on this topic, this means a great deal. I would like to take the opportunity to highlight some of the contributions my research group has made on the topic in the past years:
(i) Thiol-ene “Click chemistry” has emerged as one of the powerful strategies to construct carbon-heteroatom (C-S) bond, which generally results in the formation of two regioisomers (i.e. linear and branched thioethers). Fortunately, the thiol-ene “click” reaction triggered by neutral ionic liquid [hmim]Br has been invented and explored for the first time by our group in year 2015 as a solvent cum catalyst that allows us for the regioselective synthesis of linear thioethers, a single isomer, without the requirement of using a metal complex, base, or free radical initiator and this work is published in international journal of high repute (Sinha et al Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 127, 842-846, Impact factor 16.823)
(ii) A focus review article entitled thiol-ene Click reaction: Synthesis aspects and mechanistic studies of an anti-markovnikov selective hydrothiolation of olefins” described its numerous trapping application in the field of synthetic organic chemistry, nanoengineering and medicinal chemistry and has been published by our group in 2019 ( Sinha et al Asian J. Org. Chem. 2019, 8, 32-47, Impact Factor 3.319 )
(iii) Science of Synthesis (published by Georg Thieme Verlag, Germany): It provides a critical review of the synthetic methodology developed from the early 1800s to date for the entire field of organic and organometallic chemistry.
A recent reference book on “Science of Synthesis: Click Chemistry” edited by Floris P.J.T. Rutjes, Published by Thieme: Stuttgart in 2022 (ISBN:9783132435568, pages 744, Sale prices $ 3,899.99 exclude tax and shipping costs) presents the state-of-the art in the field of click chemistry, collecting the most useful, practical, and reliable methods. Newcomers to this filed are enabled to instantly apply these reactions in synthesis.
I am happy to share that out of the 8 chapters written by world pioneers and leader in this field of click chemistry, the sixth chapters entitled “Thiol–Ene/Yne Click reactions: A Powerful tool toward diversity-oriented synthesis” is (co) authored by me (Arun K. Sinha & Richa Singh) covering 73 pages (p. 485-558) out of total 744 pages of the reference book. Great Congratulations and thanks to publisher as this book was published prior to the announcement of the 2022 Nobel Prize in chemistry and I also feel fortunate to have opportunity to contribute chapter in such important reference book.
As my concern, the latest, i.e. the book chapter on click chemistry, is dedicated to Kolhan University, Chaibasa as I got the opportunity to serve KU as the Pro Vice-Chancellor at Kolhan University and continue to contribute in the field of click chemistry.
(Prof. (Dr.) Arun Kumar Sinha, (M.Sc. (B.H.U., Varanasi), Ph.D. (I.I.T., Delhi), FNASc (India), FRSC (London), (Former Chief Scientist and Professor (AcSIR), CSIR-C.D.R.I., Lucknow)), is Pro Vice-Chancellor, Kolhan University, Chaibasa, Jharkhand)
