Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
publishers 127articles 174first reported 1 Oct, 11:31 UTCdeveloping since 1 Oct · 22 editionstop 25 #1
French chemist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discoveries involving non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday.
Their work addressed a longstanding question about homochirality: how chemical processes can favor one of two molecular forms that mirror each other like left and right hands. Such forms can behave differently, even though they have the same chemical composition. This distinction is particularly important in pharmaceuticals, where one form may provide a therapeutic effect while the other may be ineffective or cause harmful side effects.
Kagan showed in the 1980s that chemical reactions could produce a greater excess of one mirror-image form than previously thought possible. Soai later developed an autocatalytic process, now known as the Soai reaction, that amplifies one form and can produce only the desired mirror image.
“Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously,” Nobel Committee for Chemistry chair Heiner Linke said. The academy said their discoveries have been decisive for chemists designing reactions used to manufacture pharmaceuticals.
Soai, 76, said by telephone that he was glad to share the prize with Kagan, 95. The scientists will split the award of 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million.
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