GUWAHATI: French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese scientist Kenso Soai have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work explaining why life favours one of two mirror-image forms of certain molecules.
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The Nobel Committee said molecules used by all living organisms, including amino acids that form proteins, are known as chiral molecules. This means they exist in two versions that are mirror images of each other.
While the two versions contain the same atoms, they can behave differently inside living organisms. Much like the left and right hands, which are mirror images but cannot perfectly fit the same glove, these molecules can interact differently with other substances.
Kagan made a major breakthrough in 1986 by discovering a way to manipulate chemical reactions so that one mirror-image form could be produced in greater amounts than the other.
Soai took the work further in 1995 by describing a chemical reaction capable of becoming completely one-sided. In 2003, he succeeded in creating a reaction in which only one of the two possible mirror-image forms was produced.
The Nobel Academy said no one other than life itself had achieved this before.
The scientists' work showed how chemical reactions can reinforce their own outcomes, allowing a small initial imbalance to grow until one mirror-image form dominates.
The phenomenon, known as chirality, has important applications in medicine. The two mirror-image forms of a molecule can have very different effects in the human body, making it important for scientists to produce the specific form required when developing medicines.
Kagan and Soai's discoveries have consequently become important in designing chemical reactions used to manufacture pharmaceuticals, while also helping answer a fundamental question about why living organisms overwhelmingly use one version of certain molecules.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is the third Nobel awarded during Nobel Week, following the prizes in medicine and physics announced on Monday and Tuesday.
