Henri B. Kagan

Henri Boris Kagan (born 15 December 1930) is currently an emeritus professor at the Université Paris-Sud in France. He is widely recognized as a pioneer in the field of asymmetric catalysis. His discoveries have had far-reaching impacts on the pharmaceutical industry.

He graduated from the Sorbonne and École nationale supérieure de chimie de Paris and carried out his PhD under J. Jacques at the Collège de France. Subsequently, he was a research associate with A. Horeau. He then moved to Université Paris-Sud, Orsay where he is emeritus professor. A landmark in his research was the development of C₂-symmetric ligands, e.g., DIOP for asymmetric catalysis. This discovery led to the discovery of many related ligands that support catalysts used in a variety of practical applications.

In 1986, he observed the first examples of nonlinear effects in asymmetric catalysis and developed mathematical models to describe the behavior of such catalysts. This was a major discovery, making non-linear effects a field of chemistry in its own right: not only are they a tool for understanding molecular mechanisms, but they are also discussed in the context of the origin of life (asymmetric amplification).