Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025

[Greg Bernhardt]

TL;DR

Robson's early insights led to crystalline structures with large cavities, followed by Kitagawa's work on stable and flexible MOFs, and Yaghi's contribution of creating highly spacious and stable frameworks like MOF-5

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 for the development of a new type of molecular architecture. The constructions they created – metal–organic frameworks – contain large cavities in which molecules can flow in and out. Researchers have used them to harvest water from desert air, extract pollutants from water, capture carbon dioxide and store hydrogen.

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2025/popular-information/

 

[Astronuc]

Stockholm: Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their work in the development of metal–organic frameworks that dates back to 1989.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/...ofessor-wins-nobel-prize-20251008-p5n165.html

The Nobel committee said that the three laureates “have developed a new form of molecular architecture.”

“They have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow,” the committee said.

Robson, 88, is affiliated with the University of Melbourne, Kitagawa, 74, with Japan’s Kyoto University and Yaghi, 60, with the University of California, Berkeley.

Cheers for international collaboration.

 

[Lyro]

That's an incredible recognition for truly foundational work. MOFs have gone from an academic curiosity to something with real-world applications - water harvesting, gas storage, even clean-energy tech. It's nice to see the Nobel Committee highlighting materials chemistry this year instead of purely biological or computational fields. Yaghi's MOF-5 papers were a game-changer, and Robson's early lattice concepts basically set the stage decades ago. Great to see their contributions finally honored!

 

[Zaciekawiony]

MOF-s are great substances. It's a pity that they found few practical applications. I plan to pursue this research topic—if I can secure a grant. I have an idea for a new type of ligand that allows for the selective separation of ions via a supramolecular recognition mechanism. I'm just not sure it will be possible to create a MOF from this. The cavities within the ligand would be so large that it would also allow for intertwining of molecules instead of forming a regular network with channels.
I wonder which topic in chemistry will receive the award next. Deep eutectic solvents? I worked with them during research on the extraction of natural compounds from plants.