STOCKHOLM - The Nobel Chemistry Prize was on Wednesday awarded to a trio of chemists from the US and Denmark who laid the foundation for a more functional form of chemistry.
Americans Carolyn Bertozzi and Barry Sharpless, together with Denmark's Morten Meldal, were honoured "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry," the jury said.
The award marks the second Nobel for 81-year-old Sharpless, who won the chemistry Nobel in 2001.
Only four other individuals have achieved the feat, including Polish-born Frenchwoman Marie Curie.
Click chemistry "is an elegant and efficient chemical reaction that is now in widespread use," the jury said in a statement.
"Among many other uses, it is utilised in the development of pharmaceuticals, for mapping DNA and creating materials that are more fit for purpose," it added.
"This year's Prize in Chemistry deals with not overcomplicating matters, instead working with what is easy and simple," Johan Aqvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in the statement.
The trio will share the Nobel award sum of 10 million Swedish kronor ($917,500), will receive the prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament.
Last year, the academy honoured Germany's Benjamin List and US-British dual national David MacMillan for their development of a precise tool for molecular construction known as asymmetric organocatalysis.