Noyori, Ryoji (1938– )

Japanese chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2001, shared with US chemists William S Knowles and K Barry Sharpless, for his role in the development of chiral catalysts (see chirality) for hydrogenation reactions.

Noyori built on the pioneering work of Knowles by studying the effects of substituting a number of different transition metals into chiral catalyst complexes and developing a range of new complex compounds. He was able to increase the yield of a specific chiral form of certain compounds to 100% and significantly expanded the types of hydrogenation reaction to which the catalysts could be applied. Noyori succeeded in developing a range of general chiral catalysts that were of much broader application than the selective catalysts developed by Knowles. This has been of importance in the reliable synthesis of a wide range of drugs and food additives.

Noyori was born in Kobe, Hyogo prefecture. He received his PhD from Kyoto University in 1967 and has held the post of professor of chemistry at Nogoya University since 1972. Noyori was appointed director of the Research Centre for Materials Science at Nogoya University in 2000. He became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996 and was awarded an honorary fellowship of the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry in 2000.