The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi, for the development of a new type of molecular architecture.
According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in 1989, chemistry laureate Richard Robson experimented with exploiting the inherent properties of atoms in a novel way. He combined positively charged copper ions with a four-armed molecule, which had a chemical group attracted to copper ions at the end of each arm.
When combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal—resembling a diamond filled with countless cavities.
Robson immediately recognised the potential of his molecular construction, but it was unstable and collapsed easily. However, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi provided this building method with a solid foundation; between 1992 and 2003 they independently made a series of groundbreaking discoveries.
Susumu Kitagawa demonstrated that gases could flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that metal–organic frameworks (MOF) could be made flexible.
Omar Yaghi created a highly stable MOF and showed that it could be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties.
