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Meet Kitagawa, Robson & Yaghi - trio that bagged Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal–organic frameworks
Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). These materials feature large cavities allowing molecules to pass through, enabling applications like water harvesting from desert air, pollutant removal, and carbon capture. Their work provides new avenues for chemical problem-solving.
The trio comprising Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi bagged the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for creating new rooms for chemistry. The three individuals created metal–organic frameworks that contain large cavities in which molecules can flow in and out.
The development has helped researchers to harvest water from desert air, extract pollutants from water, capture carbon dioxide and store hydrogen. The three scientists have provided chemists with new opportunities for solving some of the challenges we face.
Their story is of curiosity, persistence, and an unlikely collaboration that connected three very different minds.
Also read: Nobel Prize 2025 in Chemistry awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson & Omar M. Yaghi for development of 'metal–organic frameworks '
Richard Robson
In 1974, Richard Robson, who was teaching at the University of Melbourne, Australia, had been tasked with turning wooden balls into models of atoms, so students could create molecular structures. For this to work, he needed the university's workshop to drill holes in them, so that wooden rods – the chemical bonds – could be attached to the atoms. However, the holes could not be randomly placed.When the workshop returned the wooden balls, he tested building some molecules. This was when he had a moment of insight: there was a vast amount of information baked into the holes' positioning. This insight led to his next idea: what would happen if he utilised the atoms' inherent properties to link together different types of molecules, rather than individual atoms? Could he design new types of molecular constructions?
Every year, when Robson brought out the wooden models to teach new students, the same idea occurred to him. However, more than a decade passed before he decided to test it out. He started with a very simple model, inspired by the structure of a diamond, in which each carbon atom bonds to four others, forming a tiny pyramid He aimed to build a similar structure, but his would be based on positively charged copper ions, Cu+. Like carbon, they prefer to have four other atoms around them.
At that time, most chemists would have assumed that combining copper ions with the four-armed molecules would result in a bird's nest of ions and molecules. But things went Robson's way. However, unlike diamond – which is a compact material – this crystal contained a vast number of large cavities.
In 1989, Robson presented his innovative chemical creation in the . In his article, he speculated about the future and suggests that this could offer a new way to construct materials. These, he writes, could be given never previously seen properties, potentially beneficial ones.
As it turned out, he had foreseen the future. As soon as the year after his pioneering work was published, Robson presented several new types of molecular constructions with cavities that were filled with various substances.
In his experiments, Robson showed that rational design can be utilised for building crystals with spacious interiors that are optimised for specific chemicals. He suggested that this new form of molecular construction – when correctly designed – could be used to catalyse chemical reactions, for example.
However, Robson's constructions were quite rickety and tended to fall apart. Many chemists thought they were useless, but some could see that he was onto something and, for them, his ideas about the future awakened a pioneering spirit. Those who would come to lay a stable foundation for his visions were Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi.
Susumu Kitagawa
Born on July 4, 1951, Susumu Kitagawa is affiliated to Kyoto University of Japan. Throughout his research career, Kitagawa has followed an important principle: to try to see “the usefulness of useless.” As a young student, he read a book by the Nobel Prize laureate Hideki Yukawa. In it, Yukawa refers to an ancient Chinese philosopher, Zhuangzi, who says that we must question what we believe to be useful. Even if something does not bring immediate benefit, it may still turn out to be valuable.
Like Robson, he used copper ions as cornerstones that were linked together by larger molecules. Kitagawa wanted to continue experimenting with this new construction technology, but when he applied for grants, research funders did not think there was any particular point to his ambitions.
However, he did not give up and in 1997, he had his first major breakthrough. His research group created three-dimensional metal–organic frameworks that were intersected by open channels. When they dried one of these materials – emptying it of water – it was stable and the spaces could even be filled with gases. The material could absorb and release methane, nitrogen and oxygen, without changing shape.
Kitagawa's constructions were both stable and had a function, but research funders were still unable to see their charm.
Susumu Kitagawa understood that if he were to receive any major grants, he had to define what made metal–organic frameworks unique. So, in 1998, he described his vision in the . He presented several advantages with MOFs.
After this, all he had to do was to put his ideas into practice. Kitagawa, along with other researchers, started developing flexible MOFs. While they work on this, we will move our focus to the US, where Omar Yaghi was also occupied with taking molecular architecture to new heights.
Omar Yaghi
Omar Yaghi and his many siblings were raised in a single room in Amman, Jordan, with no electricity or running water. School was a refuge from his otherwise challenging life. One day, when he was ten years old, he sneaked into the school library, which was usually locked, and picked a book at random from the shelf. On opening it, his eyes were drawn to unintelligible but captivating pictures – his first encounter with molecular structures.At the age of 15 – and on his father's stern instruction – Yaghi moved to the US to study, where he was attracted by chemistry and eventually by the art of designing new materials, but found the traditional way of building new molecules too unpredictable.
In 1992, when Yaghi started his first position as research group leader, at Arizona State University, he wanted to find more controlled ways in which to create materials. His aim was to use rational design to connect different chemical constituents, like pieces of Lego, to make large crystals. This turned out to be challenging, but they finally succeeded when the research group started combining metal ions with organic molecules. In 1995, Yaghi published the structure of two different two-dimensional materials; these were like nets and were held together by copper or cobalt. Yaghi describes this material in an article in Nature where he coins the name “metal–organic framework;” this term is now used to describe extended and ordered molecular structures that potentially contain cavities, and are built from metals and organic (carbon-based) molecules.
Yaghi established the next milestone in the development of metal–organic frameworks in 1999, when he presented MOF-5 to the world. This material has become a classic in the field. It is an exceptionally spacious and stable molecular construction. Even when empty, it can be heated to 300°C without collapsing.
However, what caused many researchers to raise their eyebrows was the enormous area hiding inside the material's cubic spaces. A couple of grams of MOF-5 holds an area as big as a football pitch, which means it can absorb much more gas than a zeolite could (figure 5).
Omar Yaghi laid the final bricks in the foundation of metal–organic frameworks in 2002 and 2003. In two articles, in and , he shows that it is possible to modify and change MOFs in a rational manner, giving them different properties.
Yaghi's research group has harvested water from the desert air of Arizona. During the night, their MOF material captured water vapour from the air. When dawn came and the sun heated the material, they were able to collect the water.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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