Professor Merrifield was the originator of solid phase organic chemistry, which now underlies many of the essential techniques in peptide, protein, and DNA chemistry and other fields of biochemistry. He invented and perfected solid-phase peptide synthesis, with which he carried out the first chemical synthesis of an enzyme. In recognition of these accomplishments, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984.

From 1949 until his death in 2006, Professor Merrifield carried out research in the laboratories of Rockefeller University, first under the direction of D. W. Woolley and later as Professor and research director of the laboratory. Beginning in 1964, professor Merrifield carried our collaborative research with Arthur Robinson and, later, with Noah Robinson, primarily on the application of solid phase peptide synthesis to the study of deamidation of peptides and proteins.

Professor Merrifield's autobiography, Life During a Golden Age of Peptide Chemistry – The Concept and Development of Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis, Oxford University Press, 2001 describes his seminal work.