Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Henri Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan have been awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, becoming its 201st and 202nd recipients. The Nobel Committee said they were recognised for discovering non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. It is perhaps not a particularly well-known field, and neither chemist was widely tipped for the prize. The committee described the reactions they developed as spectacular, but the question now is why they are important. A member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Andrei Chabes, said the work is already used to make some pharmaceuticals, including asthma medicines and antiviral drugs. More importantly, he said, it shows how to design more efficient reactions to produce such medicines, essentially a new way of manipulating chemical reactions. Al Jazeera's Paul Rhys reports from Stockholm. Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on X: https://x.com/AJEnglish Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/ Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/ Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile #NobelPrize #Chemistry #HenriKagan #KensoSoai #Stockholm #AlJazeeraEnglish