Henri B. Kagan and Kenzo Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discoveries involving nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced at about 3:45pm Bangladesh time on Wednesday.
The academy recognised the two chemists for opening unprecedented possibilities for the manufacture of medicines, fragrances and new materials through their work on chemical reactions.
The official Nobel Prize website said Kagan and Soai received the award “for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis”.
Kagan works at Paris-Sud University in France, while Soai is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science.
Kagan discovered a new way to control chemical reactions, enabling the production of a greater predominance of one specific mirror-image molecular form than had previously been thought possible.
The discovery has played a significant role for chemists developing medicines, scents, fragrances and new materials through chemical reactions.
Soai designed the first chemical reaction in which only one particular mirror image was produced from among the possible expected mirror-image forms. Such an achievement had not previously been attained outside biological processes or nature’s own mechanisms.
The Soai reaction has been described as one of the most striking chemical experiments ever conducted.
According to the Nobel Prize website, some molecules, including amino acids, exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other. In living organisms, however, only one of these forms is present.
How such asymmetry could arise in chemical systems had long remained a major mystery for chemists. Kagan and Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving this puzzle.
Asymmetric organic synthesis can be explained through the example of the human hands. The right and left hands look almost identical and have the same arrangement of fingers, but they cannot be placed on top of one another in a perfectly matching way. The mirror image of a right hand, however, resembles a left hand.
Some molecules have a similar structure. Although they appear identical, they exist in “right-handed” D-forms and “left-handed” L-forms, known as enantiomers.
In a typical laboratory chemical reaction, 50 per cent right-handed molecules and 50 per cent left-handed molecules are usually produced automatically.