Henri Kagan
French organic chemist known for discovering nonlinear effects in asymmetric catalysis. He systematically investigated the relationship between the chiral purity of a catalyst and the chiral purity of the resulting product, demonstrating that this relationship is often nonlinear. His work has provided an important analytical tool for asymmetric synthesis and contributed significantly to the understanding of chiral amplification phenomena.
Core Facts
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to French chemist Henri Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai in recognition of their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalytic reactions in asymmetric organic synthesis.
Chemists Henri Kagan and Kensō Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing the selection mechanism of molecular chirality (according to a YouTube science current-affairs channel).
Timeline (last 90 days)
Chemists Henri Kagan and Kensō Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing the selection mechanism of molecular chirality (according to a YouTube science current-affairs channel).
The work of Kagan and Soai provided a theoretical basis for asymmetric catalysis and chiral amplification, and influenced industry's strategies for synthesizing chiral drugs.
Around 1971, Kagan designed a chiral ligand named Diop, which attaches to a metal catalyst and can efficiently produce single chiral molecules; it is made from the tartaric acid that Pasteur sorted by hand in his time.
The official Nobel Prize announcement stated that on October 7, 2026, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize, with the two laureates sharing a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor; the 95-year-old Kagan is a professor emeritus at Paris-Saclay University, and the 76-year-old Hajjai comes from Tokyo University of Science.
In 1986, Kagan's team reported three reactions and found that the relationship between catalyst purity and product purity was not linear but curved—sometimes a catalyst of only half purity could produce a product of far higher purity, which is known as the nonlinear effect.
Kagan confirmed the positive nonlinear effect model through experiments such as the Sharpless oxidation reaction, with the measured curves clearly deviating from the expected straight line.
Kagan challenged the dogma that the ratio of product enantiomers is linearly related to the ratio of the catalyst, proposing that two or more chiral ligands can simultaneously bind to the metal center of a catalyst.
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to French chemist Henri Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai in recognition of their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalytic reactions in asymmetric organic synthesis.
Kagan was born in 1930 and is an emeritus professor at Université Paris-Saclay; Soai was born in 1950 in Hiroshima and is an emeritus professor at Tokyo University of Science.
Kagan experimentally confirmed the nonlinear effect model in a sulfide oxidation reaction, and the relevant findings were published in 1986.
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All Facts (11)
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to French chemist Henri Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai in recognition of their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalytic reactions in asymmetric organic synthesis.
80%Partially VerifiedChemists Henri Kagan and Kensō Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing the selection mechanism of molecular chirality (according to a YouTube science current-affairs channel).
70%UnverifiedKagan proposed that two or more chiral ligands can simultaneously bind to a metal to form a catalyst, and when the activity of the heterochiral complex is far lower than that of other types, the ratio of product enantiomers will exceed the ratio of the catalyst itself—a phenomenon known as the positive nonlinear effect.
60%UnverifiedThe work of Kagan and Soai provided a theoretical basis for asymmetric catalysis and chiral amplification, and influenced industry's strategies for synthesizing chiral drugs.
50%UnverifiedAround 1971, Kagan designed a chiral ligand named Diop, which attaches to a metal catalyst and can efficiently produce single chiral molecules; it is made from the tartaric acid that Pasteur sorted by hand in his time.
50%UnverifiedThe official Nobel Prize announcement stated that on October 7, 2026, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize, with the two laureates sharing a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor; the 95-year-old Kagan is a professor emeritus at Paris-Saclay University, and the 76-year-old Hajjai comes from Tokyo University of Science.
50%UnverifiedIn 1986, Kagan's team reported three reactions and found that the relationship between catalyst purity and product purity was not linear but curved—sometimes a catalyst of only half purity could produce a product of far higher purity, which is known as the nonlinear effect.
50%UnverifiedKagan challenged the dogma that the ratio of product enantiomers is linearly related to the ratio of the catalyst, proposing that two or more chiral ligands can simultaneously bind to the metal center of a catalyst.
50%UnverifiedKagan confirmed the positive nonlinear effect model through experiments such as the Sharpless oxidation reaction, with the measured curves clearly deviating from the expected straight line.
50%UnverifiedKagan experimentally confirmed the nonlinear effect model in a sulfide oxidation reaction, and the relevant findings were published in 1986.
50%UnverifiedKagan was born in 1930 and is an emeritus professor at Université Paris-Saclay; Soai was born in 1950 in Hiroshima and is an emeritus professor at Tokyo University of Science.
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