Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for Molecular Chirality Research

On October 7, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2026 was awarded to Henri Kagan from the University of Paris-Sud and Kenso Soai from the Tokyo University of Science for their contributions to molecular chirality, which assist pharmaceutical companies in creating safer, more precise medications. Kagan's groundbreaking work in 1986 demonstrated that an asymmetrical catalyst can create asymmetry in reaction outputs. Soai furthered this research through autocatalytic reactions, leading to the 2003 Soai reaction that predominantly yields one mirror image. Heiner Linke remarked that this marks the first spontaneous generation of a single mirror image since the origins of chirality in life. Soai received the news while shopping, and Kagan's daughter expressed her joy. Each Nobel prize is valued at 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1.2 million).