 He shared half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 with William S. Knowles for the study of the asymmetric hydrogenation.BINAP-Ru catalyst is used for the asymmetric hydrogenation of functionalized ketones and BINAP/diamine-Ru catalyst is used for the asymmetric hydrogenation of simple ketones.These hydrogenations are used in the production of several drugs, such as the antibacterial levofloxin, the antibiotic carbapenem, and the antipsychotic agent BMS181100.