Kagan, Soai Win 2026 Nobel Chemistry Prize for Solving Chemical Asymmetry Puzzle
SCMP · 3 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan for solving the mystery of chemical asymmetry in organic molecules . Their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis has enabled chemists to drive reactions that produce homochirality—the phenomenon where only one mirror-image variant of a molecule exists in living organisms . The award was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on October 7 .
Key Points
- Henri Kagan, 95, born in France on December 15, 1930, is affiliated with Universite Paris-Sud in Orsay, France
- Kenso Soai, 76, born in Japan in 1950, is a professor at Tokyo University of Science
- The laureates solved the mystery of homochirality—why only one mirror-image form of amino acids appears in the body's proteins
- Their chemical reactions have enabled the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture drugs with precise molecular chirality
- Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, called their reactions "spectacular"
Why It Matters
This discovery provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with tools to produce drugs with specific molecular arrangements, reducing harmful side effects caused by incorrect mirror-image variants . The prize marks the third of six Nobel awards announced this week, following the Physiology or Medicine prize awarded earlier to German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel alongside American Karl Deisseroth .
This discovery provides pharmaceutical manufacturers with tools to produce drugs with specific molecular arrangements, reducing harmful side effects caused by incorrect mirror-image variants . The prize marks the third of six Nobel awards announced this week, following the Physiology or Medicine prize awarded earlier to German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel alongside American Karl Deisseroth .