Three Scientists Win 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Metal–Organic Frameworks

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded jointly to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi for their pioneering research in developing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) — a revolutionary class of materials that can trap gases, capture water, and catalyze chemical reactions.

The announcement was made on Wednesday by Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm. The Academy said the three laureates’ groundbreaking discovery in 1989 created “molecular structures with large internal spaces that allow gases and other chemicals to flow through,” enabling wide-ranging applications in energy, environment, and chemistry.

According to the Nobel Committee, the three scientists developed porous molecular structures known as metal–organic frameworks that can be designed at the atomic level. These frameworks have extraordinary surface areas and tunable chemical properties, allowing them to:

• Extract water from desert air,

• Capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere,

• Store toxic or industrial gases safely, and

• Catalyze complex chemical reactions.

Committee chair Heiner Linke remarked:

“Metal–organic frameworks offer unexpected opportunities for custom-designed materials with entirely new functions.”

• Richard Robson, 88 – University of Melbourne, Australia

• Susumu Kitagawa, 74 – Kyoto University, Japan

• Omar M. Yaghi, 60 – University of California, Berkeley, USA

Their collaboration and parallel research in the late 1980s and 1990s laid the foundation for MOFs, which today are used in environmental purification, hydrogen storage, and next-generation battery and sensor technologies.

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded 116 times to 195 laureates.

The 2024 Chemistry Nobel went to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for developing advanced protein design technologies that revealed “the building blocks of life.”

Earlier this week, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi for their discovery of peripheral immune tolerance, while the Physics Prize went to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John M. Martinis for their work on subatomic quantum tunneling.

• Thursday: Literature Prize

• Friday: Peace Prize

• Next Monday: Economics Prize

The Nobel Prize ceremony will take place on December 10, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. Nobel, a Swedish chemist and industrialist, invented dynamite and established the prize through his will to honor contributions that “benefit humanity.”

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