BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced Wednesday that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2026 will be awarded to French chemist Henri B Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai 'for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis,' which helped solve a century-old chemical mystery.
Henri B. Kagan, 96, is Professor Emeritus at the Université Paris-Sud, France.
Kenso Soai, 76, is Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Science, Japan.
The prize amount of 12 million Swedish kronor, or $11,95,302, will be shared equally between the laureates.
Some molecules, such as amino acids, exist as two variants that are each other's mirror image. However, living organisms only contain one of these mirror images. How chemical asymmetry such as this could have emerged was long a mystery to chemists. Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering a solution to this puzzle.
Henri Kagan discovered a new way of manipulating chemical reactions, allowing a greater excess of one of the mirror images to be created than was previously assumed possible. His discovery has been revolutionary for chemists who develop reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, flavours, scents and new materials.
Kenso Soai designed the first chemical reaction in which only one of the potential mirror images was formed. Other than life itself, no one had ever achieved this feat. The Soai reaction is one of the most spectacular chemical experiments ever conducted.
'Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular,' said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
Henri Kagan took the first decisive step in 1986, when he discovered a new way of manipulating chemical reactions. This allowed him to create a greater excess of one of the mirror images than had previously been thought possible.
Kenso Soai took the next step. In 1995, a key publication described how he designed the first ever chemical reaction that had the potential to be homochiral. In 2003, he finally succeeded. He presented a reaction in which only one of the two possible mirror images was formed. Other than life itself, no one had previously achieved this feat.
Thanks to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai, we now know how homochirality can emerge, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release. 'Their discoveries have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.'
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
