STOCKHOLM | French chemist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discoveries that helped explain how chemical reactions can produce predominantly one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule, a breakthrough with major implications for pharmaceutical development.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize to Kagan and Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.” The academy said their work provided a solution to a scientific mystery more than a century old: how homochirality, the predominance of one molecular form over its mirror image in living organisms, can emerge spontaneously.
Many molecules exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other, a property known as chirality. The two forms can behave differently when interacting with biological systems, making the ability to produce one specific form particularly important in drug development. The Nobel committee said the discoveries of Kagan and Soai have been decisive for chemists designing reactions for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Kagan made a crucial advance in 1986 by demonstrating that chemical reactions could be manipulated to produce a greater proportion of one mirror-image form than the other. Soai later advanced the field by demonstrating autocatalysis, in which a molecule helps catalyze the production of more molecules with the same molecular handedness. In 2003, Soai reported a reaction that produced only one of the two possible mirror-image forms.
The phenomenon has long been linked to one of chemistry’s fundamental questions about the origin of life. Louis Pasteur discovered molecular chirality in the 19th century after separating mirror-image crystals of tartaric acid, establishing a foundation for the study of molecular handedness. Scientists subsequently observed that living systems overwhelmingly favor one form of certain molecules.
A key example is amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Amino acids can occur in two mirror-image forms, but proteins in living organisms use predominantly one of them. DNA also exhibits molecular handedness, adding to the long-standing question of how biological systems came to favor particular molecular forms.
The practical importance extends to medicine because the two forms of a chiral molecule can have different effects in the human body. The Nobel committee said the laureates’ work gave chemists greater control over the synthesis of molecules used in pharmaceuticals, while the American Chemical Society said their discoveries also have implications for materials and other areas of chemistry.
Kagan, 95, is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in France, while Soai, 76, is associated with the Tokyo University of Science in Japan. They will share the 12 million Swedish kronor Nobel award and receive their medals and diplomas at the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.
Paraluman P. Funtanilla
Paraluman P. Funtanilla is Tutubi News Magazine's Marketing Specialist and is a Contributing Editor. She finished her degree in Communication Arts in De La Salle Lipa. She has worked as a Digital Marketer for start-up businesses and small business spaces for the past two years. She has earned certificates from Coursera on Brand Management: Aligning Business Brand and Behavior and Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content. She also worked with Asia Express Romania TV Show.
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
- Paraluman P. Funtanilla
