Three scientists — Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi — have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), a groundbreaking molecular architecture that could help tackle some of humanity’s toughest environmental challenges.
Announced Wednesday in Stockholm, the Nobel Committee described the frameworks using a vivid analogy: they’re like Hermione Granger’s enchanted handbag in the Harry Potter series — tiny on the outside but astonishingly spacious inside. This unique structure allows MOFs to trap gases and liquids within stable molecular “skeletons,” similar to how a timber frame holds up a house.
These frameworks can capture carbon dioxide directly from the air, harvest water from arid desert environments, and potentially remove harmful “forever chemicals” — PFAS — from drinking water. “Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
The three laureates contributed sequentially to the discovery, beginning in 1989 with Robson’s pioneering work. Robson, 88, of the University of Melbourne, said he was “very pleased and a bit stunned” to receive the honor. Kitagawa, 74, of Kyoto University, expressed his delight in a phone call after the announcement, while Yaghi, 60, of the University of California, Berkeley, was celebrated for his later contributions that expanded the technology’s applications.
This year’s chemistry prize was the third Nobel awarded so far this week, following honors in medicine and physics. The Nobel announcements continue Thursday with the literature prize, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday and the economics prize on Monday. Laureates will formally receive their medals and awards on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.