Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026: France's Henri Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai win for work on homochirality

News Tank Academic - Paris - News #456282 - Published on 07/10/26 at 15:00
©  Ill. Niklas Elmehed ©  Nobel Prize Outreach
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai - ©  Ill. Niklas Elmehed ©  Nobel Prize Outreach

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the French researcher Henri Kagan and the Japanese researcher Kenso Soai for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.

The Nobel Prize was announced on 07/10/2026 and the official award ceremony will take place in Stockholm on 10/12/2026. The laureates will share SEK 12 million (approximately €1m).

Their discoveries have enabled chemists to carry out chemical reactions leading to homochirality.

"Certain molecules, such as amino acids, exist in the form of two variants that are mirror images of one another. However, living organisms contain only one of these mirror images. How such chemical asymmetry came about remained a mystery to chemists for a long…

©  Ill. Niklas Elmehed ©  Nobel Prize Outreach
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai - ©  Ill. Niklas Elmehed ©  Nobel Prize Outreach

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