The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 chemistry prize to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric synthesis, work used in making medicines.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Al Jazeera, citing the academy, said the work solved a long-running problem of mirror-image molecules that matters for making pharmaceuticals.
Kagan, 95, is French and a professor emeritus at Universite Paris-Sud. Soai, 76, is Japanese and linked in Scientific American's account to the Tokyo University of Science. The New York Times said Kagan has worked on chirality since the 1960s, and that French scientists had questioned his omission when related asymmetric-synthesis work was honoured in 2001.
Chiral molecules have mirror images that cannot be superimposed. The academy said the discoveries were decisive for chemists who design reactions used to manufacture medicines. Scientific American said the pair showed how to raise the share of one mirror image and how autocatalysis can favour one form.
Soai told the Nobel news conference he had been out shopping when he was notified. He called it the most exciting day of his life and said he was glad to share the prize with Kagan. In Tokyo he said the mystery was not fully solved and that he would keep working on it.
The prize is the chemistry award, separate from Tuesday's physics prize to Francis Halzen. No cash figure or lecture date was in the reports used here.
People Sentiments Positive
- Kenso Soai called the award the most exciting day of his life.
- He said he was glad to share the prize with Henri Kagan.
- He said the underlying mystery was not fully unravelled.