Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025: Metal-Organic Frameworks

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to three pioneers of reticular chemistry – a new branch of chemistry that enables  the design and construction of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with a wide range of applications. The prize will be shared equally by Omar M. Yaghi, a Jordan-born chemist now at the University of California, Berkeley; Richard Robson of the University of Melbourne, Australia; and Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University, Japan.

The three researchers developed methods to create molecules with a carbon-chain backbone into which metal ions are embedded, serving as structural “cornerstones” of the larger framework. This breakthrough enabled the creation of porous materials with remarkable versatility – capable of selectively capturing and storing specific substances on demand, while also allowing scientists to control other properties of the material such as electrical conductivity and their ability to catalyze chemical reactions. These materials now underpin wide-ranging applications across industry, research, engineering, and beyond.

Porous Materials

Reticular chemistry asks a bold question: how can we create new materials not from individual molecules, but from extended crystalline frameworks? These frameworks are hybrid in nature: on one hand they are organic, built on backbones of carbon atom chains; on the other hand they incorporate metals. The result is a class of materials that combine two unusual qualities—strength and porosity. The inspiration for this approach came from zeolites, naturally occurring minerals with atoms arranged in repeating, periodic frameworks.

The first to pursue this idea was Richard Robson. Born in 1937 in Glossop, United Kingdom, Robson earned his doctorate at Oxford University in 1962. Today, he is a professor at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

As a young lecturer, Robson prepared molecular models for his students using wooden balls and sticks. While examining them, he realized that the holes in the balls—which represented the bond angles of atoms—carried crucial information: they dictated how the material would be assembled. This simple insight raised a new question—what if the bonding properties of atoms could be harnessed to assemble ordered structures not just from atoms, but from entire molecules?

A few years later, Robson put his idea to the test. In 1989, he combined copper ions with “four-armed” molecules containing nitrile groups that bond readily to metal. Contrary to expectations, instead of producing a random mixture, the reaction yielded an ordered crystal with large internal cavities—a hollow crystalline framework. This marked the first step toward a new kind of molecular architecture, though the material proved unstable and collapsed easily.

Useless Materials

The next stages of research came independently from Omar Yaghi and Susumu Kitagawa, who each found ways to strengthen and improve the flexibility of these materials—now known as metal–organic frameworks, or MOFs.

Susumu Kitagawa was born in 1951 in Kyoto, Japan. After earning his doctorate in 1979 at Kyoto University, he worked at Kindai University and, in 1992, became professor of organic chemistry at the University of Tokyo. In 2007, he founded a materials research institute, which he later directed. Today, he is a professor at Kyoto University.

Kitagawa became known for his conviction that even seemingly useless things could prove valuable.  In the early 1990s, he developed thin but fragile porous materials that initially attracted little attention. Undeterred, he persisted—and in 1997 succeeded in creating stable three-dimensional crystals composed of metal ions such as cobalt, nickel, and zinc, linked to carbon-ring molecules known as bipyridines. Within these frameworks, open channels formed that could absorb and release gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and methane—without altering the overall structure.

A year later, Kitagawa published a paper in which he first defined the advantages of MOFs and highlighted the potential of their flexibility. He described how these “breathing” materials could be designed to expand and contract in response to the molecules they contained—paving the way for a new generation of soft, dynamic materials capable of adapting to their environment.

The Boy from the Library in Amman

Omar Mounes Yaghi (Ya‘ghi) was born in 1965 in Amman, the capital of Jordan, into a large Palestinian family. As a child, he grew up in a home without running water and with unreliable electricity. His first encounter with chemistry came by chance when he came across a book about molecules in his school library, where the images inside fascinated him. At age 15, with his father’s encouragement, Yaghi left home and traveled to the United States. There he completed college and earned his bachelor’s degree. By the age of 25, he had already earned his PhD in chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Yaghi devoted his career primarily to one question: could materials be designed in the same way that engineers design structures? In the 1990s, he coined the term metal–organic frameworks (MOFs and introduced the first stable two-dimensional networks constructed by linking metal ions with organic molecules.

In 1999, he developed MOF-5, a light yet remarkably stable material composed of hollow cubes with an enormous internal surface area—so large that just a few grams exceed the surface area of a football field. These spacious cavities make it possible to capture gases and store molecules in a controlled manner.  The discovery provided the first clear proof that materials could be constructed with precise, predesigned architectures, laying the foundation for a new field—reticular chemistry—which enables the design of materials with architectural precision, atom by atom.

Over the years, Yaghi has received numerous awards for his pioneering work. In 2018 he was awarded the Wolf Prize, Israel’s prestigious award often regarded as a “predictor” of the Nobel Prize—and traveled to the Knesset to receive it.

“Omar visited Israel in 2017 and gave lectures at Tel Aviv University,” said Prof. Yoram Cohen, a supramolecular materials researcher at Tel Aviv University, in an interview with the Davidson Institute website (disclosure: the author of these lines was one of his graduate students). “He is a very modest and kind person who does not think highly of himself. In one of our conversations, I suggested he step onto the big stage and submit his candidacy for the Wolf Prize, regarded as second in importance only to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Omar was not easily persuaded, but after I consulted a previous laureate—who immediately recognized him as a highly deserving candidate—I became one of his nominators. The following year he indeed won the prize and returned to Israel to receive it.”

Materials for Every Purpose

Since then, tens of thousands of materials from the MOF family have been developed, each tailored for a specific purpose. With their hollow, precisely ordered architecture, they can store, separate, or capture molecules with exceptional accuracy—functioning like nanoscale smart filters.

Some MOFs are being explored as tools for green energy: crystals capable of safely and efficiently storing light gases such as hydrogen and methane, potentially enabling broader adoption of clean fuels. Other implementations address urgent environmental challenges, including materials that capture carbon dioxide from power plant emissions, absorb and filter persistent pollutants from drinking water,  or break down residues of antibiotics and toxic substances.

Yaghi’s laboratory recently demonstrated one of the most remarkable applications: a crystal capable of “harvesting” water directly from desert air. At night, as humidity rises, the material absorbs water vapor; by morning, warmed by the sun, it releases droplets of pure drinking water. A prototype system based on this material has already been tested in the field, and researchers view it as a promising model for future solutions of water supply in some of the driest regions on Earth.

Put simply, every MOF is like a predesigned molecular apartment—a tiny space tailored precisely to fit certain molecules while excluding others. Designing materials at this level transforms chemistry from a science of unpredictable reactions into one of deliberate, precision planning. In a world shaped by climate change, pollution, and water scarcity, this capability may prove to be one of the most powerful innovations for keeping our planet clean and sustainable.

The achievements of Robson, Kitagawa, and Yaghi have transformed chemistry from a science of reactions into a science of design. They demonstrated that materials can be architected to serve specific purposes, creating internal spaces—tiny rooms where precise and carefully controlled interactions occur. In an era defined by the pursuit of clean energy, safe water, and reduced emissions, these molecular rooms may prove to be the most valuable chemical real estate of the 21st century.