From BBC News · · 1m 20s
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai
Chemistry Nobel winners solve life's mirror molecule mystery.
In brief
Chemistry Nobel winners solve life's mirror molecule mystery. Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for explaining how life favors one version of molecules over their mirror images. Originally reported by BBC News.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japan's Kenso Soai for providing a solution to the chemical mystery of life's asymmetry.
Chirality explained
Chirality is the property where molecules exist as mirror images, like hands, and living organisms use only one version.
Life's mirror molecule problem
Drugs created in labs usually produce a 50-50 mix of mirror image molecules, but life uses only one version.
Thalidomide example
The Thalidomide drug caused severe birth defects because it mixed both mirror image versions of the molecule.
Kagan's discovery
Henri Kagan discovered a new way to manipulate chemical reactions in 1986 to create more of the desired molecule version.
Soai's breakthrough
Kenso Soai published a paper in 1995 describing the first reaction that could produce only one version of a molecule.
Nobel Committee statement
The Nobel Committee stated that no one had previously achieved creating a single mirror image molecule in the lab.
What it means
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for explaining how life favors one version of molecules over their mirror images.
