Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal–organic frameworks.” Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials comprised of metal ion or cluster nodes coordinated to organic linkers. The seemingly endless combinations of nodes and linkers enable the design of MOFs with an extraordinarily diverse range of structures and properties. Their large surface area, adjustable pore size, structural flexibility, and ability for functionalisation at either the metal nodes or organic linkers have shown potential in applications such as gas storage and separation, chemical sensors, water harvesting and purification, heterogeneous catalysis, energy storage, and drug delivery. The modular nature of MOFs has also stimulated extensive fundamental studies on synthetic methodologies, thermal expansion behaviour, magnetic structures, and structural disorder.

In this Collection, Nature Portfolio recognises the achievements of the Laureates in a selection of featured content, articles from the winners, related research, reviews, and news and opinion pieces that highlight the development of metal–organic frameworks over the past three decades.