Henri Kagan, Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

STOCKHOLM -- Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday.

According to the Academy, some molecules, such as amino acids, exist in two variants that are mirror images of each other. However, living organisms only contain one of these mirror-image forms. How such chemical asymmetry, known as homochirality, could emerge had long remained a mystery to chemists.

"This year's prize recognises discoveries that have enabled chemists to drive chemical reactions that lead to homochirality," the Academy said in a statement, noting that the two laureates "made chemistry choose a 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. The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular," says Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Kagan, born in France on Dec 15, 1930, is affiliated with Universite Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, born in Japan in 1950, is a professor at Tokyo University of Science.