Catalysts - GoKawiil

Henri 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.

nature.com · 2026-10-07

Thianthrenium ylides enable carbene transfer for cyclopropanation reactions

Researchers report that thianthrenium ylides can act as effective carbene donors for cyclopropanation, a reaction where conventional sulfonium and sulfoxonium salts have largely failed. They attribute this failure in prior chemistry to strong carbon-sulfur bonding in typical sulfur ylides, which prevents formation of a sufficiently electrophilic metal-carbene intermediate needed for broad olefin reactivity.

nature.com · 2026-09-30