瑞典皇家科学院揭晓诺贝尔化学奖：法日学者破解镜像分子之谜
10月7日（周三），瑞典皇家科学院在斯德哥尔摩宣布，2026年诺贝尔化学奖授予法国化学家亨利·卡冈（Henri Kagan）和日本化学家索阿伊健三（Kenso Soai），以表彰他们在不对称有机合成领域关于非线性效应与不对称自催化反应的发现。两人将平分1200万瑞典克朗奖金。
卡冈现年95岁，是巴黎-萨克雷大学教授，也是诺贝尔奖历史上第三年长的获奖者；索阿伊76岁，是东京理科大学教授。许多对生命至关重要的分子都存在互为镜像的两种形态，如同左手与右手，但生物体几乎只使用其中一种，这一「同手性」现象困扰了化学界一个多世纪。两人的研究让化学家能够可控地只合成所需要的其中一种形态，对制药生产尤为重要：不少药物只有一种镜像形态具有疗效，另一种形态甚至可能带来副作用。
索阿伊在诺贝尔奖新闻发布会上通过电话表示，这是他一生中最激动的一天，他很高兴与卡冈教授分享这一奖项；他还说，接到获奖消息时他正在外出买菜。法国总统马克龙在社交平台发文祝贺，称这是对卡冈毕生研究的认可；日本首相高市早苗也致电索阿伊表示祝贺。
卡冈此次获奖还有一段25年前的旧事：2001年，不对称催化领域的诺贝尔化学奖名单中没有他的名字，时任法国研究部长曾就此向诺贝尔基金会表达不满。如今，卡冈在95岁时终于获奖。
来源：瑞典皇家科学院公告、路透社、法国《世界报》，2026年10月7日。
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Announces Nobel Chemistry Prize: French and Japanese Scholars Honoured for Mirror-Image Molecule Work
On Wednesday, October 7, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced in Stockholm that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry had been awarded to French chemist Henri Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai, for their discoveries of nonlinear effects and asymmetric autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. The two will share the prize sum of 12 million Swedish kronor equally.
Kagan, 95, a professor at Paris-Saclay University, is the third-oldest person ever to receive a Nobel Prize; Soai, 76, is a professor at the Tokyo University of Science. Many molecules essential to life exist in two forms that are mirror images of each other, like left and right hands, yet living organisms use almost exclusively only one of them — a phenomenon known as homochirality that puzzled chemists for more than a century. The laureates' work gave chemists ways to produce only the desired form, which matters greatly for pharmaceutical manufacturing: many medicines are effective in only one mirror-image form, while the other can cause side effects.
Speaking by phone to the Nobel Prize press conference, Soai said it was the most exciting day of his life and that he was very glad to share the prize with Professor Kagan; he added that he had been out grocery shopping when he received the news. French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the laureates on social media, calling the award a recognition suited to a lifetime of research, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi also telephoned Soai with congratulations.
Kagan's prize closes a 25-year-old chapter: in 2001, when the chemistry prize went to other researchers in the same field of asymmetric catalysis, France's research minister at the time complained to the Nobel Foundation that Kagan had been left out. He has now received the prize at the age of 95.
Sources: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announcement, Reuters and Le Monde, October 7, 2026.
图片来源：瑞典皇家科学院主楼。摄影：I99pema，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
