Henri Kagan, Kenso Soai win chemistry Nobel for ‘mirror image’ breakthrough

Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work on asymmetric organic synthesis. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis, which provides methods for selectively preparing single molecular mirror images. This breakthrough addresses the long-standing mystery of "homochirality," where living organisms predominantly use only one of two mirror-image molecular forms. Their findings are crucial for pharmaceutical manufacturing, enabling chemists to design reactions that produce the desired molecular form for drugs. The committee highlighted the significance of their work in solving a chemical puzzle that has persisted for over a century.

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving the mystery of life's asymmetry. Their work explains how nature exclusively produces one specific form of a molecule, rather than its mirror image. This phenomenon, known as chirality, is crucial because living organisms on Earth rely on only one of these mirror-image forms, such as in amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. While laboratory chemical reactions typically produce a 50-50 mix of both forms, nature's preference for a single form is vital for biological function and has significant implications for drug development, as each molecular form can interact differently with the body.

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize in Stockholm for their discoveries concerning non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Kagan is affiliated with Universite Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai, aged 95, is associated with the Tokyo University of Science. This marks the third Nobel award to be presented this year.