Geo News
Community curated by people like you
LatestAICryptoHealthWorld AffairsUS Politics

Chemistry stories

Oct 7, 2026

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry for mirror-image molecule research

Henri B. Kagan of Université Paris-Sud and Kenso Soai of Tokyo University of Science were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how to manipulate mirror-image molecules through asymmetric synthesis. Their work on nonlinear effects and autocatalysis has enabled the production of more precise and safer pharmaceuticals.

Oct 7, 2026·9 sources
00

Top claims

  • ▪Living organisms almost exclusively contain and use only one of the two mirror-image forms of chiral molecules, such as amino acids in cellular proteins.
  • ▪Henri B. Kagan's discovery of non-linear effects showed that the metal component of a catalyst could interact with multiple chiral molecules simultaneously, making mixed combinations less effective.
  • ▪Controlling molecular chirality is critical in pharmaceutical manufacturing because one mirror-image form of a drug may have the desired therapeutic effect while the other may cause harmful side effects.

Subtopics

Drug development1Nobel Prize1

Related timelines

Russia-Ukraine war

136 stories

Trump administration

116 stories

Venture capital funding

100 stories

AI Data Center Gold Rush

111 stories

Ebola outbreak

60 stories