Photo credit: Dann Kristoff — File:R. B. Merrifield.jpg (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Robert Bruce Merrifield
1921–2006 · United States · 20th century
Nobel Chemistry 1984
American chemist who invented solid-phase peptide synthesis, turning the laborious assembly of peptides into an automated routine.
Nobel Prize work
In 1963 Merrifield introduced solid-phase peptide synthesis: the growing peptide chain is anchored to an insoluble resin so that excess reagents and by-products are simply washed away after each coupling step. The method made peptide synthesis fast, automatable and routine, revolutionizing biochemistry and drug discovery.
Fields
Related topics
Total synthesis
Total synthesis constructs a complex natural or designed molecule from simple, defined starting materials, integrating route design, selectivity, mechanism, and practical execution.
Amino acids, peptides, protein structure
Amino acids join through peptide bonds into chains that fold into proteins; four levels of structure explain how sequence determines shape and function.