'One catalytic reaction could fix climate change'

Nobel Laureate David MacMillan explains how chemistry touches every aspect of our lives and how asking the right questions can solve the knottiest of problems

- Shalini Umachandran

David MacMillan, who shared the 2021 Chemistry Nobel Prize with Benjamin List, doesn't see himself primarily as a chemist.

He sees himself as a curious person who's deeply interested in the world around him. "If you look around the room you're in, everything you see—everything in the world—requires a chemical reaction," he says. MacMillan, 57, was at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru on 3 November for The Nobel Prize Dialogue 2025, a series of talks addressing global issues, in association with the Tata Trusts. MacMillan's Nobel was awarded was for "the development of asymmetric organocatalysis", in other words, designing organic molecules (common elements that make up all living things) that are nontoxic and easy-to-handle to speed up chemical reactions. This makes it cheaper and greener to carry out catalysis for everything from clothing to medication.

"Organocatalysis has democratised catalysis," says MacMillan. "In India, it's used in almost every lab, every company, every startup." Across the world, 90% of industrial-scale chemical reactions use catalysis and it is the basis of 35% of the global GDP. MacMillan, who is James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, sat down for a chat with Lounge with a cup of chai "that's super flavoursome with all the spices—more chemistry". Edited excerpts.