The 2025 chemistry Nobel goes to MOFs

It’s a material world after all. And this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to researchers who created a family of materials that could help solve some of humanity’s most critical problems. Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi have won the chemistry Nobel Prize “for the development of metal–organic frameworks [MOFs],” a large family of porous crystalline solids with mindbogglingly high surface areas. “This year’s award is a story full of holes, but with enormous capacity to absorb all your attention,” said Olof Ramström, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, who told journalists gathered for the announcement about the chemistry behind MOFs.MOFs have Tinkertoy-like structures where the joints are metal ions or clusters, and the struts are organic molecules. Their structure means that a sugar cube–size MOF, if laid flat, would cover an area the size of a football field.By modifying the organic and inorganic components, and by tacking on other molecules to the MOF structures, researchers can create an endless variety of MOFs. Over 100,000 structures have already been made, and many more are predicted.The porosity, stability, and versatility of the materials have allowed researchers to craft MOFs that can harvest moisture from dry desert air, capture carbon dioxide from flue gases or directly from air, store hydrogen gas, and remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other contaminants from water. Companies are also interested in using MOFs as battery separator and electrode materials and as catalysts for chemical synthesis.At their essence, MOFs exemplify