Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how to create homochiral molecules—chemical compounds that exist in only one mirror-image form—through non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Kagan made the initial breakthrough in 1986 by manipulating chemical reactions to favor one mirror image over the other, while Soai achieved the first reaction in 2003 that produced exclusively one mirror image, solving a century-old chemistry mystery. Their discoveries have significant applications in pharmaceutical development, where only specific mirror-image variants of molecules produce desired therapeutic effects.