GoKawiilHenri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2026 has been awarded to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for their research into how asymmetric catalysis can amplify molecular handedness. Kagan's 1980s work showed catalysts could amplify a small imbalance between mirror-image molecules, while Soai's 1990s experiments demonstrated a molecule could catalyse its own further asymmetric production, a phenomenon now known as the Soai reaction.
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The discoveries address a long-standing puzzle about why life on Earth overwhelmingly uses one-handed versions of molecules rather than an even mix, which has implications for understanding the chemical origins of biological systems. Nature's chief editor Flora Graham noted the choice was welcomed by chemists partly because it was seen clearly as chemistry rather than biology, and several in the field felt catalysis researcher Donna Blackmond would also have been a deserving winner.
- Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai share the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
- Their work explains how catalysts can amplify asymmetry between mirror-image molecules.
- Soai's 1995 paper describing the effect, now called the Soai reaction, was published in Nature.
Source: nature.com — Graham, 2026-10-07
Published there as: “Daily briefing: Chemistry Nobel goes to mirror-molecule researchers”
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