The scientists’ discoveries enabled the creation of safer, more effective medicines|@NobelPrize|X
French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japan’s Kenso Soai have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for solving a century-old mystery about life’s asymmetry, known as chirality.
Molecules such as amino acids can exist as left- and right-handed mirror images, but living organisms typically use only one form. This presents a challenge in pharmaceutical development because one version of a medicine can be beneficial, while its mirror image may be inactive or even harmful.
Kagan made a foundational breakthrough in 1986 by manipulating reactions to yield a specific mirror image. Soai subsequently perfected the process in 2003, producing only one mirror image—a feat never accomplished outside of life itself.
The scientists’ discoveries enabled the creation of safer, more effective medicines.