Stockholm:French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese scientist Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work in understanding molecular asymmetry, which is essential to life.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences recognized Kagan and Soai "for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis." Their research provided significant insights into homochirality, a characteristic of living systems where molecules prefer one of two possible mirror-image forms.

This discovery addressed a longstanding question about why proteins in living organisms utilize only one mirror-image form of amino acids. The research has important implications for pharmaceutical development, as different mirror-image forms of a molecule can have varying effects on the human body.

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, praised their work, stating, "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."

Kagan's breakthrough in 1986 involved manipulating chemical reactions to yield a greater excess of one mirror-image form than previously thought possible. Soai furthered this work in 1995 with a reaction that could produce only one mirror-image form, successfully demonstrating it in 2003.

Their discoveries have been pivotal for chemists in designing reactions for pharmaceutical manufacturing.