Chemistry 2026 · Announced Oct 7
Kensō Soai
The chemist who found a reaction that copies its own handedness.
Born 1950 · Japan · Tokyo University of Science
40 yrs
The wait, from Kagan's key paper (1986) to the prize
1950
Year born
2
People sharing this prize
Oct 7
Announced in 2026
Their part in the prize
In 1995 Soai found a reaction whose product speeds up the making of more of itself, in the same hand. Start with a tiny excess of one hand and it snowballs. It is now called the Soai reaction.
Why it matters
Drug makers often need just one hand of a molecule, because the other can do nothing or do harm. This work also gives a clue to an old puzzle: why living things use only one hand.
The road to the prize
- 1986Kagan reports non-linear effects in handed reactions.
- 1995Soai reports a reaction that copies and boosts its own handedness.
- 2026Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Kagan is 95.
Shared with
The official reason for both: "for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis"