Kathmandu, October 8
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry this year will be jointly awarded to French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese scientist Kenzo Soai.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday that the two scientists would receive the prize for their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.
The scientists discovered a method that allows chemists to produce only one of two mirror-image forms of molecules during chemical reactions.
What was the century-old mystery?
Some molecules, including amino acids, exist in two different forms in nature that are mirror images of each other, much like the left and right hands. However, only one of these forms is found in proteins in living organisms. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as “homochirality.”
For a long time, this was a major mystery for chemists. When they attempted to produce such molecules in laboratories, chemical reactions typically produced equal amounts of both forms. However, when developing molecules that interact with living organisms, such as medicines, one mirror image can be effective while the other may not be. Scientists therefore sought ways to produce only one form.
The two scientists helped solve this mystery. In 1986, Kagan of Université Paris-Sud in France discovered a new way to control chemical reactions, making it possible to significantly increase the proportion of one mirror image.
Soai of the Tokyo University of Science in Japan subsequently took the work further. In 1995, he designed the first chemical reaction capable of producing a homochiral outcome and achieved success in 2003.
He demonstrated a reaction in which only one of the two possible mirror-image forms was produced. This was the first time such a result had been achieved in a laboratory outside natural biological processes.
Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said Kagan and Soai had solved a more than century-old chemical mystery of how homochirality can arise spontaneously. He described the chemical reactions they developed as “excellent.”
Their discovery has been particularly significant for chemists involved in pharmaceutical development.
The laureates will receive a prize of 12 million Swedish kronor, approximately $1.2 million.
The Nobel Prize announcements began on Monday with the prize in physiology or medicine, followed by physics on Tuesday. The prizes for literature, peace and economic sciences are scheduled to be announced on Thursday, Friday and Monday, respectively.
Last year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists for developing new molecular structures capable of storing large amounts of gas.
