Life Is Asymmetric. The Scientists Who Figured Out Why Won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Life Is Asymmetric. The Scientists Who Figured Out Why Won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Henri Kagan and Kensō Soai for discovering a solution to the enigma of nature’s chemical asymmetry, a finding that opened up new avenues for manipulating the reactions used in manufacturing pharmaceuticals and other materials.
2026年诺贝尔化学奖授予了亨利·卡甘（Henri Kagan）和左右田健三（Kensō Soai），以表彰他们破解了自然界化学不对称之谜，这一发现为操纵制药及其他材料制造过程中的化学反应开辟了新途径。
Some molecules are chiral, meaning a molecule has two forms that are mirror images of each other but not identical, like your left and right hand. One of the most mysterious chemical phenomena in biology is that living organisms contain almost exclusively one of the two forms. This is known as homochirality.
有些分子具有手性，这意味着分子存在两种互为镜像但并不相同的形式，就像你的左右手一样。生物学中最神秘的化学现象之一是，生物体几乎只包含这两种形式中的一种，这被称为同手性。
Both versions of the molecules—each called an enantiomer—have similar physical properties but can behave differently. The Nobel Committee used a simple analogy to explain this: A locksmith can create two mirror-image keys, but “only one of them fits the lock—and the lock can be damaged if your customers try to unlock it with the other key.”
这两种版本的分子（每种被称为对映异构体）具有相似的物理性质，但表现可能截然不同。诺贝尔委员会用一个简单的类比来解释这一点：锁匠可以制造两把互为镜像的钥匙，但“只有其中一把能打开锁——如果顾客试图用另一把钥匙开锁，锁可能会损坏。”
In the development of new drugs that use, for example, amino acids or sugar molecules as a basis, homochirality poses a problem: While one of the enantiomers of these chiral molecules produces the desired therapeutic effect, the other can cause unnecessary and, at times, harmful side effects. Scientists can’t always easily control which version of the molecule they get out of their synthesis.
在开发以氨基酸或糖分子为基础的新药时，同手性带来了一个问题：虽然这些手性分子的其中一种对映异构体能产生预期的治疗效果，但另一种可能会引起不必要的、有时甚至是危险的副作用。科学家并不总能轻易控制合成过程中得到的是哪种版本的分子。
The discovery of chiral molecules dates back to the time of Pasteur, who found two enantiomers that reacted very differently when exposed to bacteria. Since then, various researchers have attempted to replicate homochirality in the laboratory with the goal of understanding its spontaneous origin and applying this knowledge to the design of controlled reactions for various purposes. However, early experiments yielded equal amounts of the two variants, failing to reproduce the selectivity observed in nature.
手性分子的发现可以追溯到巴斯德时代，他发现两种对映异构体在接触细菌时反应截然不同。自那时起，多位研究人员试图在实验室中复制同手性，旨在理解其自发起源，并将这一知识应用于设计各种受控反应。然而，早期的实验产生了等量的两种变体，未能重现自然界中观察到的选择性。
At the beginning of the last century, the German chemist Willy Marckwald designed an asymmetric reaction capable of producing a slightly greater amount of one of the two versions. He achieved this using a chiral catalyst—a substance that facilitates a chemical reaction without being consumed and favors the formation of one of the enantiomers. The ratio between the two variants, however, only changed a little.
上世纪初，德国化学家威利·马克瓦尔德（Willy Marckwald）设计了一种不对称反应，能够产生略多于另一种版本的产物。他通过使用手性催化剂实现了这一点——这是一种在不被消耗的情况下促进化学反应并有利于形成其中一种对映异构体的物质。然而，两种变体之间的比例变化甚微。
Later, in 1953, theoretical physicist Charles Frank proposed a mathematical model that outlined three conditions for reproducing homochirality. First, there must be an asymmetric reaction capable of favoring one of the two versions; that imbalance has to be amplified; and the reaction itself has to produce the catalyst that drives it. This last characteristic is called autocatalysis and generates a kind of positive feedback loop, in which a small initial advantage can cause one of the variants to assemble at an ever-faster rate until it dominates the reaction.
后来，在1953年，理论物理学家查尔斯·弗兰克（Charles Frank）提出了一个数学模型，概述了复制同手性的三个条件。首先，必须存在一种能够偏向其中一种版本的非对称反应；其次，这种不平衡必须被放大；最后，反应本身必须产生驱动它的催化剂。最后一个特征被称为自催化，它产生了一种正反馈循环，即最初微小的优势可以使其中一种变体以越来越快的速度聚集，直到它主导整个反应。
This framework formed the basis of Henri Kagan’s research. Beginning in the early 1980s, he focused on refining asymmetric reactions through a detailed study of the catalyst. At that time, scientists typically used catalysts consisting of a metal atom that acted as the reaction’s driving force and a chiral substance that ensured the process was asymmetric. They assumed that if they used a mixture containing equal amounts of the two versions of that chiral molecule, the result would also be a balanced mixture.
这一框架构成了亨利·卡甘研究的基础。从20世纪80年代初开始，他专注于通过对催化剂的详细研究来改进不对称反应。当时，科学家通常使用由金属原子（作为反应驱动力）和手性物质（确保过程不对称）组成的催化剂。他们假设，如果使用含有等量两种手性分子版本的混合物，结果也会是平衡的混合物。
Kagan began to question that idea. He realized that the metal atom likely did not interact with just one enantiomer but with both at the same time. This meant that, by mixing versions A and B, three different combinations could form: A-A, B-B, and B-A. The first two would produce molecules that were mirror images of each other. But the A-B combination could behave differently during the reaction.
卡甘开始质疑这一观点。他意识到金属原子很可能不是只与一种对映异构体相互作用，而是同时与两者相互作用。这意味着，通过混合A和B版本，可以形成三种不同的组合：A-A、B-B和B-A。前两者会产生互为镜像的分子，但A-B组合在反应过程中可能会有不同的表现。
The A-B combination, the scientist discovered, could slow down the reaction, indirectly favoring the formation of one of the two versions of the final molecule. The phenomenon was called the “nonlinear effect” and represented a new way to manipulate chemical reactions.
这位科学家发现，A-B组合可以减缓反应速度，间接促进最终分子中其中一种版本的形成。这种现象被称为“非线性效应”，代表了一种操纵化学反应的新方法。
“In addition to their practical interest, nonlinear effects are a very valuable tool for studying reaction mechanisms and the nature of catalytically active species,” explained José María Andrés García, a professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Valladolid, in a statement reported by SMC Spain.
巴利亚多利德大学有机化学系教授何塞·玛丽亚·安德烈斯·加西亚（José María Andrés García）在西班牙科学媒体中心（SMC Spain）的一份声明中解释说：“除了其实际意义外，非线性效应还是研究反应机理和催化活性物种性质的非常有价值的工具。”
Inspired by Kagan’s findings, Kensō Soai sought to create a reaction in which the product itself would act as a catalyst and help produce more molecules identical to itself—one of those theoretical conditions for the homochirality. He conducted a test with a substance known as 5-pyrimidylalkanol. At the beginning of the experiment, one version was just 2 percent more abundant than the other version of the molecule. By the end of the reaction, that advantage had jumped to 87 percent.
受卡甘研究结果的启发，左右田健三试图创造一种反应，使产物本身充当催化剂，并帮助产生更多与自身相同的分子——这是同手性的理论条件之一。他使用一种名为5-嘧啶基烷醇的物质进行了测试。实验开始时，其中一种版本的分子仅比另一种多出2%。到反应结束时，这一优势已跃升至87%。
In the years that followed, Soai worked toward achieving reactions that resulted in the near-absolute purity of one enantiomer, replicating the molecular state inside living organisms. Finally, in 2003, he engineered a reaction in which the starting substances had no defined orientation, but as they reacted, a slightly greater amount of one enantiomer appeared by chance. That tiny difference then produced many more molecules of the same variant. Gradually, that form came to dominate the reaction, accounting for up to 99.99 percent of the final product.
在随后的几年里，左右田致力于实现使一种对映异构体达到近乎绝对纯度的反应，从而复制生物体内的分子状态。最终，在2003年，他设计出一种反应，起始物质没有明确的取向，但随着反应的进行，其中一种对映异构体偶然出现了微小的过量。这种微小的差异随后产生了更多相同的变体分子。逐渐地，这种形式开始主导反应，占最终产物的99.99%。
In other words, the reaction formed only one of the two possible enantiomers. As the Nobel Committee stated, “Other than life itself, no one had previously achieved this feat.”
换句话说，该反应只形成了两种可能对映异构体中的一种。正如诺贝尔委员会所言：“除了生命本身，此前没有人实现过这一壮举。”
This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.
本文最初发表于《连线》西班牙语版，由西班牙语翻译而来。