DOMINANT ANGLE
Canberra takes note of the practical aspect of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry: mirror molecules that, when properly chosen, separate the medicine that heals from the one that worsens the condition, using mint and caraway to illustrate.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis (ABC News).
- 02
Heiner Linke, committee chair, speaks of a "century-old chemical enigma" and "spectacular" reactions (ABC News).
- 03
Peter Somfai, committee member, believes it is difficult to name a specific medication resulting from this work, as it serves as a tool and understanding (PerthNow).
ANALYSIS
Canberra, October 8, 2026. Australian media are treating the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, announced on Wednesday, October 7, as a story of hands. ABC News writes that Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai were awarded "for their discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis". The Frenchman is attached to the University Paris-Sud, in Orsay, the Japanese to the University of Science in Tokyo.
The story opens with the formula of the president of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Heiner Linke, cited by ABC: the two researchers have provided "a solution to a chemical enigma over a century old", namely how homochirality can emerge spontaneously. Linke adds: "The chemical reactions they developed are spectacular." PerthNow, which picks up a dispatch, quotes Peter Somfai, a member of the committee, for whom it is "probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry".
To make the issue understandable, the two media use the same example. Many molecules in living things exist in two versions that resemble each other without being identical, like the right hand and the left hand. One form of carvone smells like mint, the other evokes caraway. In pharmacy, scientists want the version that heals a cold, not the one that would aggravate a runny nose. Kagan and Soai have found a way to make chemistry "choose a side".
The articles detail the distribution of work. PerthNow explains that in the 1980s, Kagan's work showed that there could be a way to design reactions that produce one form rather than the other. Soai then "made this dream a reality" by creating the first reaction to produce only one of the mirror images. According to the committee, "apart from life itself, no one had achieved this feat before".
The medical dimension remains at the forefront. The committee's statement, cited by ABC, judges these researches "decisive for chemists who design reactions for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products". Somfai nuances, however: it would be difficult to say that a specific medicine has been developed in this way, as these works serve as a tool and general understanding. ABC also recalls the context of the announcements: the literature is expected on Thursday, peace on Friday, economics on Monday.
