Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for solving life's asymmetry mystery

Key facts

• Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• The prize was awarded for solving the mystery of life's asymmetry.
• Molecules essential for life, like amino acids, are chiral and exist as mirror images.
• Life selectively uses only one of these mirror-image forms.
• The scientists' work is crucial for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
• Their discoveries explain how homochirality can emerge spontaneously.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2026 has been awarded to French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai for their work in solving the long-standing mystery of life's asymmetry. The Nobel Committee highlighted that molecules fundamental to life, such as amino acids which build proteins, are chiral. This means they exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other, yet life predominantly uses only one of these versions. Kagan and Soai's discoveries provide an answer to why this selectivity occurs and how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. Their research is described as decisive for chemists involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners in Stockholm.