STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Royal Academy of Sciences on Wednesday inadvertently published names of three scientists it said had won this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry, although the award-giving institute said the decision was still hours away.

"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023 rewards the discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles that are so small that their size determines their properties," the academy wrote in an email according to Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN).

Johan Aqvist, chair of the academy's Nobel committee for chemistry, however told Reuters:

"It is a mistake by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Our meeting starts at 0930 CET (0730 GMT) so no decision has been made yet. The winners have not been selected."

The announcement of this year's Nobel prize for chemistry is due at 1145 CET (0945 GMT).

Daily Aftonbladet published a copy of the academy's email naming the laureates as Moungi G. Bawendi, Louise E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov.

The more than century-old prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($990,019).

($1 = 11.1109 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Johan Ahlander, editing by Terje Solsvik)