2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Henri Kagan and Kenzo Soai
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Henri Kagan and Kenzo Soai for their work in organic synthesis. The 12 million Swedish kronor prize will be shared equally by the laureates.
Abdulrahman Sadikhli1 min read
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to scientists Henri Kagan and Kenzo Soai for their work in organic synthesis. The prize was announced on October 7, 2026.
The prize amounts to 12 million Swedish kronor. The laureates will share it equally.
The Nobel Committee explained the significance of the scientists' work.
"For a long time, scientists puzzled over how homochirality could arise. When they began experimenting with reactions that could lead to the formation of two mirror-image molecules, they always obtained equal proportions of them. However, chemists sought to create only one of the mirror images, because when developing molecules that would interact with living organisms, only that one would produce the desired effect."
As noted, the work of the prize laureates made it possible to control reactions that lead to homochirality.
What is known about the laureates
Henri Kagan was born in France in 1930. Kenzo Soai was born in 1950 in Japan.
Source: news.am
