Three scientists win the Nobel Prize for designing revolutionary 'molecular cages' that could help solve our biggest global challenges.
In Stockholm, the world tunes in. The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi for their visionary work in materials science.
They didn't just discover a new material; they invented a new way to build at the microscopic level. They are the architects of matter, creating molecular 'scaffolds' with astonishing properties.
From Japan, Australia, and the United States, these three pioneers worked across decades and continents. Their collective genius laid the foundation for a new era in chemistry.
Planet Earth faces enormous hurdles: water scarcity, a changing climate, and the need for clean energy. Bold new ideas are required to solve them.
Imagine harvesting fresh water directly from desert air. What if we could build a sponge specifically designed to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere? This is the world their discovery makes possible.
Their creation is called a Metal-Organic Framework, or MOF. Think of it as a set of microscopic LEGOs, built from metal joints linked by organic rods, forming a vast and porous structure.
The magic of MOFs is that their size, shape, and properties can be precisely designed. This allows them to trap specific molecules while letting others pass through, like a perfect molecular filter.
The journey began with Richard Robson’s foundational concepts in 1989. It was supercharged in the 90s by the independent breakthroughs of Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi.
Robson provided the blueprint. Kitagawa unlocked their flexible, gate-like functions. Yaghi pioneered their rational design, creating incredibly stable and spacious structures.
"Science is the greatest equalising force in the world," laureate Omar M. Yaghi once said. This prize celebrates how global collaboration can rise to meet humanity's shared challenges.
Some MOFs act like super-sponges, absorbing water molecules from the air even in low humidity. This water can then be released for drinking, transforming arid regions.
Other frameworks are tailored to capture vast amounts of carbon dioxide. They can be used at the source of emissions or even directly from the atmosphere, helping to combat climate change.
These molecular cages can also store gases like hydrogen and methane safely at low pressures. This innovation is crucial for powering the next generation of clean vehicles and energy grids.
As the Nobel Committee chair noted, MOFs present "unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials." We have only begun to explore the incredible potential of this new field.
This prize highlights chemistry's greatest strength: the power "to design and build molecular structures that address global challenges," as one expert put it.
The work of Kitagawa, Robson, and Yaghi arms humanity with a powerful new toolkit. They have given us the blueprints to build a cleaner, safer, and healthier world, one molecule at a time.
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