Today's story
Kagan, Soai Win Chemistry Nobel for Autocatalysis
Henri B. Kagan of France and Kenso Soai of Japan won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Their work shed light on how chemical reactions favor one mirror-image form of a molecule over another.
Science · 151 sources · 1hRead itThe journal
Open the journal →The conversation starts in the journal — be the first to post.
About chirality
In chemistry, a molecule or ion is called chiral if it cannot be superposed on its mirror image by any combination of rotations, translations, and some conformational changes. This geometric property is called chirality. The terms are derived from Ancient Greek χείρ (cheir) 'hand'; which is the canonical example of an object with this property.
Everything about chirality →