The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for solving a puzzle about mirror-image molecules. Here is what their work means.

Many molecules come in two versions that are mirror images — like left and right hands. Chemists call them chiral. Kagan and Soai discovered non-linear effects and autocatalysis in making just one mirror version.

Why does it matter? Choosing the correct mirror image is crucial for drugs, flavours and fragrances — the wrong version can be useless or harmful. Their tools are now used daily by chemists worldwide.

The work may also explain how life itself chose one handedness for its proteins and sugars. The pair share 12 million Swedish crowns, about $1.2 million.

Kagan spent decades refining asymmetric synthesis, while Soai discovered a reaction that amplifies a tiny imbalance into one pure mirror image. Together, their work turned a chemistry curiosity into a standard industrial toolkit.