Chemistry Nobel goes to trio for new molecular architecture form

Japan’s Kitagawa, UK-born Robson and American-Jordanian Yaghi honoured for their groundbreaking discoveries

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A screen displays the 2025 Nobel Prize laureates in Chemistry, Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University, Japan), Richard Robson (University of Melbourne, Australia), and Omar M. Yaghi (University of California, Berkeley, US), as they are announced during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Wednesday.

(REUTERS)

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on Wednesday for their work developing metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), whose multiple uses include capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air.

Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa, UK-born Richard Robson and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi were honoured for their groundbreaking discoveries dating from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

The jury noted that thanks to the trio’s discoveries, chemists had been able to build tens of thousands of different MOFs.

“Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges,” it added.

It listed applications such as “separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air”.