The recipients of this year year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry were announced on October 6. Two men shared this honor: German-born Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute in Germany, who serves as a Specially Appointed Professor at Hokkaido University in Japan; and David MacMillan. originally from Great Britain and currently Professor at Princeton University in the United States. These scholars were jointly recognized for their success in achieving efficient development of the eco-friendly chemical reaction known as "asymmetric organocatalysis." The fruits of this research are being applied to the production of anti-influenza drugs and other important uses.

Professor MacMillan invented the area of iminium catalysis within organocatalysis and made significant contributions to development of hydrogen-bonding catalysis, including "Prof. MacMillan organocatalysts". As acknowledgement for those achievements, he was named winner of the Ryoji Noyori Prize in 2017.