Nobel Prize in Chemistry Winner 2025: Who are the Winners? Check Their Education, Career Details, Awards and Achievements

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "for the development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)", a groundbreaking family of porous materials that are revolutionizing areas ranging from clean energy to environmental science. 

This award is a milestone in materials chemistry, celebrating the half-century of groundbreaking research that has resulted in applied solutions to worldwide issues such as carbon sequestration, hydrogen storage, and water purification.

What Are Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)?

Metal-organic frameworks are crystalline solids composed of metal ions bridged by organic molecules to create highly porous, sponge-like structures. Internal surface areas of some MOFs reach more than 7,000 square meters per gram, making them the most porous materials human beings have ever developed. 

Their porous structure enables them to capture, store, and purify gases with unprecedented efficiency, paving the way to breakthroughs in sustainability and industrial technology.

BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” pic.twitter.com/IRrV57ObD6

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 8, 2025

Susumu Kitagawa: The Visionary of Porous Coordination Polymers

• Susumu Kitagawa, Professor of Kyoto University since 1998, is now Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS). 

• He received his doctorate in Chemistry from Kyoto University in 1979. 

• He was born in 1951. Kitagawa devoted his entire career to coordination chemistry and opened up the area of porous coordination polymers—the starting point for MOFs. 

• His seminal research in 1997 yielded the first stable porous coordination polymer that preserved its structure even upon removal of the solvent, demonstrating that such compounds could be permanent.

Kitagawa came to transform the area with the introduction of "flexible" or "soft" porous crystals which are capable of dynamically altering their structure in response to an external stimulus such as temperature or gas pressure. This revolution provided new opportunities for smart materials which respond to the environment. During his professional life, he has authored more than 800 scientific articles with over 100,000 citations to make him one of the most impactful chemists of his generation.

His many awards and honors include the Japan Academy Prize (2015), the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2017), and the Centenary Prize of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Kitagawa's work has spanned the field of chemistry, materials science, and biology and formed a new paradigm for the design of functional porous materials with uses from gas storage to drug delivery.

Richard Robson: The Pioneer of Crystal Engineering

• Born in Yorkshire, England, in 1937, Professor Richard Robson graduated at Oxford University with a BA (1959) and DPhil (1962) before holding postdoctoral positions at Caltech and Stanford University. 

• He has been at the University of Melbourne since 1966, currently holding the position of Professor Emeritus. 

• Robson started learning about MOF chemistry by chance in 1974 when he was given the task of constructing wooden models of crystal structures for first-year chemistry lectures a tryst that ignited his revolutionary concept of using molecules as building blocks.

Robson's own breakthrough occurred in the 1990s, when he was able to produce the first three-dimensional coordination polymers with diamond-like structures. Employing copper(I) ions of tetrahedral geometry and specially designed tetranitrile organic compounds, he produced crystalline scaffolds of unprecedented internal volume—over half liquid. 

Initial reluctance from collaborators concerned with releasing such unorthodox structures proved to be unfounded; Robson's own prognostications regarding these materials were remarkably accurate, including functionalization and catalytic applications.

Over the course of his illustrious career, Robson has authored more than 200 papers and has been awarded many accolades such as Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Society. 

His initial research formed the theoretical and practical basis for the whole MOF field, and his design criteria remain to this day a cornerstone of research around the globe. His capacity to see and design intricate interpenetrating structures has made him a "pioneer in crystal engineering involving transition metals.".

Omar M. Yaghi: The Builder of Reticular Chemistry

• Professor Omar M. Yaghi received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990. 

• He is now the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair at UC Berkeley, where he is also Co-Director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute. 

• Yaghi revolutionized the science by defining the term "metal-organic framework" and pioneering "reticular chemistry"—the art of constructing crystalline materials from molecular building blocks with atomic accuracy. 

• His methodical methodology of MOF design has resulted in the synthesis of more than 20 distinct MOF families, among which is the iconic MOF-5, one of the most researched porous materials in the history of science.

Yaghi's impact goes well beyond synthesis to engineering applications. He has started firms to bring MOF technologies into commerce, specifically carbon capture and water collection from the air—designing solar-powered technology that can pull drinking water from desert air. His laboratory has made MOFs that can store hydrogen and methane for use in clean energy, transforming methods for storing and transporting fuels. With over 800 papers and more than 200,000 citations, Yaghi is one of the world's most cited chemists.

His remarkable work has been the recipient of many high-standing awards such as the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2018), the King Faisal International Prize (2015), and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science (2023). As a member of several national academies such as the National Academy of Sciences, Yaghi continues to advance the frontiers of materials design, showing how basic research can solve humanity's greatest challenges from climate change to access to clean water.

Their legacy continues in thousands of MOF structures currently being created globally, providing a glimmer of hope for sustainable global solutions through innovative chemistry.