For the past couple of centuries, the world of chemical catalysis has rested on two major pillars: enzymes and metals. But in 2000, a pair of chemists — Benjamin Listof the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Germany and David MacMillan of Princeton University — independently introduced a third pillar, for which they were recognized today with the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The process they developed, known as asymmetric organocatalysis, makes use of small organic molecules to promote faster and more efficient reactions.