Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Kagan and Soai for untangling mirror images in molecules

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Scientists Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for untangling mysterious mirror images in molecules, a discovery that has been used to develop countless drugs and transformed modern medicine.Many molecules come in versions that look alike but are not exactly identical, like right and left hands. Kagan, who is from France, and Soai, from Japan, found ways to make chemistry pick a side, designing reactions to produce the desired mirror image.“The medicines we have today would not be possible without this chemistry,” said Rigoberto Hernandez, president of the American Chemical Society.Soai was shopping at a neighborhood supermarket when he heard he had won.“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the Nobel committee and journalists by phone. “Of course, this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”The discovery enabled most modern medicinesMirror images of the same molecule can have different properties. For exa