Three scientists win chemistry Nobel for developing MOFs

(MENAFN) Three scientists, including American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi, Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa, and UK-born Richard Robson, have won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a revolutionary type of molecular architecture. These structures can capture carbon dioxide, harvest water from desert air, store toxic gases, and catalyze chemical reactions.

Robson first explored the potential of copper-based MOFs in 1989, creating spacious crystal structures with countless cavities, but the designs were unstable. Kitagawa and Yaghi later provided a firm foundation for the technology, with Kitagawa demonstrating gas flow and flexibility in MOFs and predicting their broader applicability, while Yaghi developed highly stable frameworks that could be rationally designed for specific properties.

The Nobel committee praised their work as a major advancement in chemistry, enabling the creation of entirely new materials with unprecedented properties. The prize underscores decades of research spanning from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, illustrating how atomic and molecular control can yield practical solutions to global challenges. Yaghi, 60, Kitagawa, 74, and Robson, 88, expressed gratitude for the recognition. The laureates will receive a diploma, a gold medal, and a $1.2 million award to be shared among them. The formal ceremony is scheduled for December 10 in Stockholm and Oslo, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

Last year’s chemistry prize went to Americans David Baker and John Jumper and Briton Demis Hassabis for breakthroughs in predicting protein structures with AI.

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