Solved a century-old riddle: Henry Kagan and Kenso Soai are the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureates

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Henry B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. The two solved a century-old riddle of how homochirality arises in nature, a discovery with implications for understanding the origin of life and developing drugs.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Prof. Henry B. Kagan from the University of Paris-Sud and Prof. Kenso Soai from the Tokyo University of Science. The two were awarded the prize for discovering nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Their work solves a scientific riddle over a century old: how homochirality arises in nature, i.e., the state where biological systems use only one of two mirror-image forms of molecules, such as amino acids. Kagan and Soai showed how a chemical reaction can produce only one of the two forms, rather than an equal mixture, through an amplified nonlinear effect where a small difference leads to a one-sided outcome, and through autocatalysis where the product accelerates its own formation and drives the reaction in one direction. This discovery has far-reaching implications for understanding the origin of life and for developing advanced and precise methods for producing drugs and biochemical compounds. The chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Heiner Linke, said the reactions they developed are spectacular. Kagan, born in 1930, is a pioneer in asymmetric catalysis, which has broad influence on the pharmaceutical industry, and was not included in the 2001 Nobel Prize awarded to three other researchers in the field. Soai is known for his work on chirality and self-amplifying reactions. The two will share a cash prize of 12 million Swedish kronor.