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French chemist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai were named the 2026 Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry at a press conference held at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. They were recognized for their discoveries of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.

Molecules such as amino acids can exist in two mirror-image forms, yet living organisms contain only one of them. Kagan developed a new method for steering chemical reactions that made it possible to obtain one mirror-image molecule at a far higher ratio than was previously thought achievable. His work has played an important part in improving the chemical reactions used to produce medicines, flavours, fragrances and new materials. Soai, meanwhile, designed the first chemical reaction in which only one of the possible mirror images is formed. The Academy described the so-called Soai reaction as one of the most remarkable chemistry experiments ever carried out.

Kagan, born in France in 1930, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and earned his doctorate from the College de France in 1960, gaining recognition for his work in organic and organometallic chemistry, asymmetric synthesis and asymmetric catalysis. Soai was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1950, graduated from the University of Tokyo and received his doctorate in 1979. Nobel Prizes, awarded since 1901, are presented each year on December 10.

Key Takeaways

• Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai share the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
• Kagan achieved much higher yields of a single mirror-image molecule, advancing the production of drugs, flavours, fragrances and new materials.
• Soai created the first reaction producing only one mirror image, known as the Soai reaction, hailed by the Academy as an outstanding chemistry experiment.