2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for autocatalysis discovery

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai "for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis."

Some molecules, including amino acids, exist as two variants that are each other's mirror image. However, living organisms only contain one of these mirror images. This chemical asymmetry, known as homochirality, has long puzzled scientists.

The Nobel Prize recognizes discoveries that have enabled chemists to steer chemical reactions toward producing one mirror-image form. This is particularly important in developing pharmaceuticals, where only one mirror image of a molecule may have the desired effect.

"Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular," said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Their work has helped explain how chemical asymmetry can emerge and given chemists greater control over asymmetric reactions.