2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Three Researchers
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday in Stockholm to three researchers: Susumu Kitagawa from Japan's Kyoto University, Richard Robson from Australia's University of Melbourne, and Omar M. Yaghi from the University of California, Berkeley, for their work on a new form of molecular structure.
Breakthrough Discovery
The Nobel Prize winners have created molecular structures with large spaces that allow gases and other chemical substances to circulate. These structures, called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), can be used to collect water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases, or catalyze chemical reactions, according to the Nobel Committee.
New Form of Molecular Architecture
The three researchers "have developed a new form of molecular architecture," notes the Nobel Committee, explaining that "in their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones connected to each other by long organic molecules (based on carbon)." Together, the metal ions and molecules organize to form crystals containing large cavities. These porous materials are called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By varying the constituent elements used in MOFs, chemists can design them to capture and store specific substances. MOFs can also trigger chemical reactions or conduct electricity.
Revolutionary Discoveries
Following the laureates' groundbreaking discoveries, chemists have created tens of thousands of different MOFs. Some of these may contribute to solving some of humanity's greatest challenges, with applications such as separating PFAS from water, decomposing traces of pharmaceutical products in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide, or collecting water from desert air.
Nobel Prize Series
This 117th Nobel Prize in Chemistry follows the physics prize, awarded on Tuesday to British researcher John Clarke, American John M. Martinis, and French researcher Michel H. Devoret for their work in quantum mechanics, as well as the physiology and medicine prize, awarded on Monday to Japanese researcher Shimon Sakaguchi and Americans Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell for the discovery of a mechanism that prevents immune cells from attacking the body. It will be followed by the literature prize, awarded on Thursday by the Swedish Academy, the peace prize on Friday (awarded by a committee of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament), and finally, on Monday, October 13, the economics prize, awarded by the Bank of Sweden.
Prize Details
Each prize is worth 11 million Swedish crowns, approximately €1 million, to be shared among the laureates (up to three per prize).
Who is Omar M. Yaghi?
Born in Amman in 1965, Omar M. Yaghi is a Jordanian researcher of Palestinian origin, who also holds Saudi and American nationality. He currently holds the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also an associate researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the founding director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute. Yaghi is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He ranked second in the list of the most influential scientists and engineers in the world between 1998 and 2008. He obtained Saudi nationality in 2021 and was awarded the "New Arab Genius" prize in 2024.
History of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has existed for over a century. The prize amount is 11 million Swedish crowns, approximately $1.2 million, to be shared among the laureates (up to three per prize).
