Kagan and Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for asymmetric synthesis work
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday in Stockholm.
Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said in a news release that the two scientists had provided a solution to a chemical mystery more than a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. "The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular," Linke said.
The committee said their discoveries "have been decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals."
Kagan was born in France and is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, 95, was born in Japan and is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science. The so-called "Soai reaction" is named for Soai's experiment.
Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for developing new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.
This year's Nobel prizes began with the medicine award on Monday, given to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award on Tuesday recognized a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos. The literature prize is scheduled for Thursday. After the peace prize is awarded on Friday, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.
The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, about $1.2 million, whether it goes to an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.