KAGAN AND SOAI AWARDED NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY

STOCKHOLM, OCTOBER 7 /SRNA/ - French scientist Henri Kagan and Japanese scientist Kenso Soai have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

"Some molecules, such as amino acids, exist in two variants that are mirror images of each other. However, living organisms contain only one of these mirror images.

How chemical asymmetry of this kind could have arisen had long been a mystery to chemists. Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the solution to this puzzle," the statement said.

Kagan works at Paris-Sud University in Orsay, while Soai is employed at the University of Tokyo.

The two scientists will share the monetary award of 12 million Swedish kronor, or approximately one million euros.