Chemist Kenso Soai gives Tokyo lecture on reaction named after him — The Japan Times

Japanese chemist Kenso Soai delivered a lecture in Tokyo, Japan, on an asymmetric autocatalytic reaction. Work on this reaction led the scientist to the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Science spoke to about 2,000 people, including participants in an online broadcast.

The Soai reaction

The lecture by the 76-year-old scientist was organized by the Chemical Society of Japan, The Japan Times reports. In the process called the Soai reaction, a small difference between two mirror-image forms of molecules is amplified until one form begins to dominate. This phenomenon is compared to the difference between the left and right hands.

The scientist published the first research findings related to the Soai reaction in 1990. During a question-and-answer session, he said he wanted to explore a broad range of possible causes of the imbalance between left- and right-handed molecular forms.

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Plans for the Stockholm ceremony

After the lecture, Soai said at a press conference that he was interested in basic, fundamental questions. He also expressed hope of arriving at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm in December in high spirits.

During an upcoming lecture in the Swedish capital, the scientist plans to discuss the results of his work and acknowledge the contribution of 19th-century French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, who also studied molecular asymmetry.