Chemists always strive to find new ways of manipulating atoms to create molecules and materials with the intention of improving the lives of the earth and its inhabitants. In 2001, Barry Sharpless discovered a new method of snapping stable molecules to yield new compounds and coined the term “click chemistry”. Morten Meldal separately, discovered the best snapping molecules containing azide and alkyne functionalities. Caroline Bertozzi then envisioned that the same reaction can be conducted in living cells without any interference to their normal activities and thus gave birth to bioorthogonal chemistry to investigate various stages of physiological and pathological developments in living cells.  

The present talk will explain the chemistry behind Click reaction and Bioorthogonal utility of this reaction and why this discovery deserved the most prestigious recognition in science. 

.