Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for work on molecular architecture

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi for their pioneering work in developing metal-organic frameworks—materials designed to capture and release gases like carbon dioxide.

“A small quantity of this material functions similarly to Hermione’s bag in Harry Potter,” remarked Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “It can hold substantial amounts of gas within a compact size.”

Tens of thousands of various metal-organic frameworks have been synthesized, showcasing a multitude of applications, including carbon dioxide capture from industrial emissions and the removal of persistent pollutants, as well as harvesting moisture from the atmosphere.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Richard Robson, based at the University of Melbourne, was inspired by the crystalline structure of diamonds to invent the first metal-organic frameworks. He realized that metal ions could act as connection points, linked by organic molecules.

When the metal ions are combined with organic molecules, they self-organize into structured frameworks. Unlike the limited space of diamond cavities, those in metal-organic frameworks can vary significantly in size.

The metal-organic frameworks developed by Robson initially contained water in their cavities. Notably, Susumu Kitagawa at Kyoto University created the first framework stable enough to be dehydrated, allowing gas to fill the voids.

“He demonstrated that the gases could be absorbed by the material and subsequently released from it,” noted Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

Kitagawa also innovated frameworks capable of changing shape as gases are added or extracted.

At the University of California, Berkeley, Omar Yaghi advanced the stability of these frameworks by incorporating zinc-oxygen metal ion clusters and carboxylate-containing linkers.

“This framework is remarkable due to its exceptional stability, enduring temperatures up to 300 degrees Celsius,” Ramström explained. “Equally impressive is its vast surface area; just a few grams of this airy material has the equivalent surface area of a large soccer field, spanning thousands of square meters.”

Yaghi further demonstrated that simply elongating the linkers allows for larger cavities within these materials.

Following these revolutionary developments, the field of metal-organic frameworks has rapidly expanded, with new innovations occurring nearly daily, Ramström added.