rki.news
STOCKHOLM, October 8 – Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their pioneering work in developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Wednesday.
“The Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry 2025 have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow,” the academy said in a statement. These frameworks have wide-ranging applications, including harvesting water from desert air, capturing carbon dioxide, storing toxic gases, and catalyzing chemical reactions.
Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan, Robson, a British-born researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia, and Yaghi, born in Amman, Jordan, and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, have together expanded the possibilities of molecular design.
Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said, “MOFs have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions.”
The laureates’ groundbreaking work demonstrates how chemistry can address critical global challenges, from environmental sustainability to resource management, by enabling innovative approaches to gas storage, water collection, and chemical catalysis. Their research continues to inspire scientists worldwide and represents a significant milestone in the design of functional molecular materials.
