The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1947 was awarded to Sir Robert Robinson "for his investigations on plant products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids".
 

Robinson's breakthrough involved the alkaloids, a set of well-known and complex plant chemicals, including cocaine, morphine and opium, which exert profound effects on living things. Robinson unravelled the structures of many of these alkaloids, including morphine and strychnine, and he also synthesized several of them from simple starting materials. Other notable milestones in Robinson's illustrious career in organic chemistry include completely synthesizing the complex red and blue pigments in flowers and fruits from simpler chemicals, and relating their structure to their colour. In recognition of his services to Science, the Royal Academy has decided to bestow upon him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his investigations on plant products of biological importancc and especially for his outstanding work on the structure and the biogenesis of complicated alkaloids.