Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for work on the design and synthesis of molecular machines, the award-giving body said on Wednesday.

"They have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.

Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobel prizes after the medicine and physics laureates were announced on Monday and Tuesday.

The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.