[2026 Nobel Prize] Frenchman Henri Kagan and Japanese Kenso Soai Share Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "Homochirality Research" (Updated)

"An answer to the chemical mystery of homochirality"
Played a decisive role in drug development

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to French chemist Henri Kagan, 95, and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai, 76, for discovering nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.

2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry co-laureates Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai. Nobel Committee.

The Nobel Committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on the 7th, local time, that it had decided to award the prize to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai "for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis."

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the two laureates had "provided an answer to a chemical mystery that had endured for more than 100 years: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously."

Molecules that make up living organisms, such as amino acids, exist in structures that are mirror images of each other, like left and right hands. However, in living organisms in nature, proteins and other molecules display "homochirality," in which only one of the two structures is present. Developing reaction techniques to induce this asymmetry artificially has long been a challenge in chemistry. Professor Kagan identified a technique for producing homochirality, while Professor Soai discovered how it arises.

The Nobel Committee is understood to have once again underscored the importance of chirality research by awarding the prize for work in the field for the first time in five years. In 2001, William Knowles, Ryoji Noyori, and Barry Sharpless jointly received the prize for research on synthesizing chiral molecules using metal catalysts. In 2021, Benjamin List and David MacMillan received the prize for developing a method to make chiral molecules using small organic molecules instead of metals.

According to scientists, the foundations of chirality research were laid in 1848, when French scientist Louis Pasteur separated tartrate crystals that were mirror images of each other. Chirality is particularly important in drug development because two mirror-image molecules can act differently in the human body and cause side effects. One example is the sedative thalidomide, which was introduced in the 1950s and was also used to relieve morning sickness in pregnant women, but sometimes caused serious birth defects.

Professor Kagan discovered the "nonlinear effect," which controls chemical reactions to produce homochirality at a higher rate than previously predicted. Professor Soai presented the first theoretical design related to homochirality and then discovered an asymmetric autocatalytic reaction in which only one of two mirror-image forms is produced.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, "Thanks to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai, we now understand how homochirality can arise," adding, "Their discoveries have played a decisive role for chemists designing reactions to manufacture medicines."

The total prize money for this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry is 12 million Swedish kronor (about 1.6 billion won). The announcements of the 2026 Nobel Prize laureates are set to continue with the Literature Prize on the 8th, the Peace Prize on the 9th, and the Prize in Economic Sciences on the 12th.

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