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Kenichi Fukui
1918–1998 · Japan · 20th century
Nobel Chemistry 1981
Developed frontier orbital theory, showing that the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied orbitals govern reactivity.
Nobel Prize work
Fukui's frontier orbital theory (1952) held that chemical reactivity is governed by the interaction between the highest occupied orbital (HOMO) of one partner and the lowest unoccupied orbital (LUMO) of the other. This single picture explained the regio- and stereoselectivity of cycloadditions such as the Diels–Alder reaction. Shared with Roald Hoffmann, the prize honored this simple yet general theory of how reactions proceed.