2026.10.08
硤合憲三先生（本学部卒業生）がノーベル化学賞を受賞
硤合憲三先生の2026年ノーベル化学賞受賞に際し、心からのお慶びを申し上げます。
硤合先生は、1974年に東京大学理学部化学科を卒業した後、大学院理学系研究科化学専攻に進学、博士取得後に米国に渡られ、東京理科大学にて有機合成化学の研究に従事してこられました。その間、「硤合反応」と呼ばれる不斉自己増殖反応を発見されました。自然界の有機分子の多くは右手と左手のように互いに鏡に映した関係にある「鏡像体」が存在します。硤合反応は、ほんのわずかであっても偏りのある物質が反応系中にあれば、それを「種」として反応生成物の鏡像体がどちらか片方のみ「増殖」することを発見されたものです。「なぜ地球上の生命に関わる有機分子は二つある鏡像のうちの一つに偏っているのか」という生命の不斉起源の謎にも関わる重要な自然現象の一つとも捉えられています。長年の研究のなかでありとあらゆる不斉物質を不斉源として吟味され、極めて普遍的な現象であることまでも実証されてきました。
硤合先生の栄誉を心からお祝い申し上げます。
We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Kenso Soai on being awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Professor Soai graduated from the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo, in 1974, and subsequently pursued his doctoral studies in the Graduate School of Science. Following the completion of his doctorate, he continued his research in the United States before joining Tokyo University of Science, where he established a distinguished career in synthetic organic chemistry. Among his most celebrated achievements is the discovery of the asymmetric autocatalytic reaction now universally known as the “Soai reaction.”
Many organic molecules in nature exist in two mirror-image forms, much like our right and left hands. These two forms are known as enantiomers. Through the Soai reaction, Professor Soai demonstrated that even an exceedingly small initial imbalance between the two enantiomers can act as a “seed” and be dramatically amplified through asymmetric autocatalysis, leading predominantly to one of the two mirror-image forms.
This remarkable discovery has provided important insight into one of the most fundamental questions in chemistry and the life sciences: why organic molecules associated with life on Earth predominantly occur as only one of two possible mirror-image forms—the question of the origin of biological homochirality. Over many years of research, Professor Soai and his colleagues have examined an extraordinary variety of chiral substances as sources of asymmetry, demonstrating that this phenomenon is remarkably general.
We offer my warmest congratulations to Professor Soai on this distinguished honor.
