Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to French and Japanese scientists
Announcement of the Nobel Prize to French researcher Henri B. Kagan and Japanese researcher Kenso Soai was made in Stockholm on Wednesday (7).
TL;DR
- Henri B. Kagan (France) and Kenso Soai (Japan) awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- The prize recognizes their discoveries of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
- Their work allows scientists to promote reactions that result in homochirality, a key feature of life.
- Amino acids, like hands, exist in two mirror-image variants, but living organisms predominantly use only one.
- The discoveries help solve the long-standing mystery of how chemical asymmetry (homochirality) arises.
- Kagan's 1986 discovery allowed for a greater excess of one mirror image than previously thought possible.
- Soai's 1995 work described the first chemical reaction with potential for homochirality, achieved in 2003.
- These findings are vital for developing pharmaceuticals, fragrances, agricultural chemicals, and new materials.