Scientists Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.

Kagan is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai with the Tokyo University of Science.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winners in Stockholm.

"So this year's prize is about foundational chemistry. Many molecules occur in two different versions. Like my hands. They are one another's mirror image, they look alike, but they are not identical. I cannot put my hands on top of one another. Such molecules are called chiral, from the Greek word for hand," Heiner Linke, chair of the ⁠Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said.

"Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have provided a solution to a chemical mystery that is over a century old: how homochirality can emerge spontaneously.

"The chemical reactions they have developed are spectacular."

Last year, scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments. (Agencies)



Edited by Tony Sabine