Nobel Chemistry Prize honours Kagan, Soai for solving homochirality puzzle

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for their work on the mirror-image forms of chemical molecules and how one form can emerge spontaneously. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award in Stockholm.

Announcing the prize, Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the two scientists had solved a long-standing puzzle. "Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously," he said in a news release. "The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular."

Kagan, 95, was born in France and is affiliated with Universite Paris-Sud in Orsay, France. Soai, who was born in Japan, is affiliated with the Tokyo University of Science.

Soai said he was shopping near his home when he was contacted by the Nobel committee.

Last year, the chemistry Nobel went to three scientists for developing new molecular structures that can trap large amounts of gas, work that could help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or collect moisture in desert environments.

This year's Nobel announcements began with the medicine prize on Monday, awarded to three scientists whose work led to a light-based tool to study how the brain works. The physics prize on Tuesday recognised a scientist's work on a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize will be announced on Thursday. The peace prize will follow on Friday, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor, or about USD 1.2 million, whether it is awarded to one person, a small group of laureates or an organisation. In all, Wednesday's announcement honoured Kagan and Soai for work that addressed a more than century-old chemical mystery.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends