Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 chemistry Nobel for work on molecular handedness

Chemistry World reports that Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on reactions that favor one mirror-image form of a molecule over another. Kagan showed how an initial imbalance could be amplified; Soai demonstrated a self-catalysing reaction that produced a solution containing more than 99.75% of one form. Their work offers a possible explanation for how life came to favor molecules with a particular handedness.