Illustration of the French chemist Yves Chauvin (1930-2015). In the early 1970s Chauvin elucidated the reaction mechanism in olefin metathesis. This is an organic reaction involving the redistribution of fragments of alkenes (olefins) by the breaking and forming of carbon-carbon double bonds. Chauvins description of metathesis led Robert H Grubbs and Richard R Schrock to develop catalysts that carried out the reactions more efficiently, allowing manufacturers to make organic compounds, including some plastics and medicines, at lower pressures and temperatures, using fewer hazardous and expensive chemicals, and producing fewer contaminants and harmful waste products. Chauvin, Grubbs and Schrock were awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work.