Nobel chemistry prize goes to France’s Kagan and Japan’s Soai for solving molecular mirror puzzle

Paris, October 7 — France's Henri Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving the mystery behind the emergence of only one mirror-image form of some molecules in nature, a discovery vital for pharmaceutical development. The Nobel Committee cited their work on non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.

Both amino acids and proteins predominantly possess one mirrored variant, known as "homochirality," while the other is rarely observed in nature. Chemists have long puzzled over this "homochirality" phenomenon, until Kagan and Soai developed chemical reactions that drive the formation of homochirality. Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, praised the laureates, stating that their discoveries have been "decisive" for chemists designing reactions for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

This year's prize follows the physics award given to Belgian physicist Francis Halzen for his work using Antarctic ice to detect cosmic particles, and the medicine prize awarded to US psychiatrist Karl Deisseroth and German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel. The literature prize will be announced tomorrow, with some predictions suggesting a woman writer, possibly from Latin America, could receive the honor.

The peace prize will be awarded on Friday, with US President Donald Trump closely watching the event. The economics prize will conclude the Nobel season on October 12. The Nobel Prizes include a diploma, a gold medal, and a cash prize of RM4.9 million, which is shared among multiple laureates in a discipline. The recipients will receive their awards at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.