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French chemist Kagan and Japanese chemist Soai win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai, who developed the “Soai reaction,” for their discoveries in asymmetric synthesis and autocatalysis.
The winners of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry have been announced. Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan will share the award, according to an announcement made at a press conference by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm.
The Academy based its decision on the two chemists’ contributions to the discovery of nonlinear effects in asymmetric organic synthesis and autocatalysis.
One-sided asymmetry in nature
Some molecules exist in two variants that are mirror images of each other. While these two variants often form together in the laboratory, living organisms use only one of them. Kagan and Soai investigated how this imbalance in the world of chemistry may have originated.
One of the Academy’s most notable experiments
The reaction designed by Soai became the first chemical process in which only one of two possible mirror-image forms emerged. The work, known as the “Soai reaction,” is regarded by the Academy as one of the most notable chemistry experiments ever conducted.
The method developed by Kagan directed reactions so that the desired mirror-image form could be obtained at a proportion far higher than previously considered possible.
From the laboratory to industry
Today, these approaches play a role in developing reactions used to produce medicines, flavorings and fragrances, and new materials.
Born in 1930, Kagan studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris and earned his doctorate from the Collège de France in 1960. Soai, who was born in Hiroshima in 1950, graduated from the University of Tokyo and received his doctoral degree in 1979.
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