These crystalline materials are transforming the way scientists store, separate, and use gases and molecules.
The three winners, from Japan, Australia and the United States, respectively, created molecular structures with vast interior spaces that function like complex scaffolds.
These organometallic frameworks can capture, store, or transform materials, opening new frontiers in energy, climate, and environmental science.
Structure of the molecular revolution
At the heart of this award-winning discovery is a new way to build materials.
MOFs are formed when metal ions, which serve as structural nodes, combine with long organic linkers to form rigid, porous crystals. The resulting framework contains a huge internal cavity, like a molecular sponge.
This modular architecture allows chemists to precisely design and tune MOFs to capture carbon dioxide, store hydrogen, catalyze chemical reactions, and even conduct electricity.
Heiner Linke, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said: “Metal-organic frameworks have great potential and offer previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functionalities.”
From fragile beginnings to functional wonders
The story begins in 1989, when Australian chemist Richard Robson investigated how atoms could be organized into spacious repeating structures.
His first experiment – combining copper ions with a four-armed organic molecule – produced elegant crystals resembling diamonds filled with microscopic cavities. Although this structure was unstable, it sparked a new scientific vision.
Building on Robson’s foundation, Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University demonstrated in the early 1990s that gas could move through these frameworks, demonstrating their porosity and flexibility.
Meanwhile, Omar Yaghi, then at the University of California, Berkeley, developed robust and stable MOFs that used rational design to modify their properties and expand their potential applications.
From laboratory curiosity to global solutions
Since those pioneering days, researchers have created tens of thousands of organometallic frameworks, each with distinct chemical properties.
Currently, MOFs are being investigated for carbon capture, water recovery from desert atmospheres, toxic gas storage, and environmental remediation such as PFAS removal and degradation of pharmaceutical residues in water.
The Nobel Committee’s decision is more than just a scientific advance; it recognizes a new paradigm in chemistry, one that marries the elegance of molecular design with real-world sustainability.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will honor three visionaries whose molecular blueprints have the potential to solve some of the biggest challenges of our time.
Source link
