Scientists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M Yaghi on Wednesday won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing “a new form of molecular architecture”.

“The Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry 2025 have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry, said in a press release.

It added that these constructions, or metal-organic frameworks, can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyse chemical reactions.

In 1989, Robson tested utilising the inherent properties of atoms in a new way.

He combined positively charged copper ions with a four-armed molecule, the release said. “This had a chemical group that was attracted to copper ions at the end of each arm,” it added.

When they were combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal, the release said. Robson recognised the potential of his molecular construction, but it was unstable and collapsed easily.

Kitagawa and Yaghi provided this building method with a firm foundation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said, adding that between 1992 and 2003, they separately made a series of revolutionary discoveries.

“Kitagawa showed that gases can flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that MOFs [metal-organic frameworks] could be made flexible,” it said. “Yaghi created a very stable MOF and showed that it can be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties.”

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said that metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions.

Kitagawa is a professor at Kyoto University in Japan, while Robson teaches at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Yaghi is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States.

Together, the three scientists will receive 11 million Swedish kronor, which is about Rs 10.3 crore, in prize money.

On Monday, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for identifying the immune system’s security guards, regulatory T cells.

Scientists John Clarke, Michel H Devoret and John M Martinis on Tuesday won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.

The winners for literature and economics, in addition to the Nobel Peace Prize, will be announced between October 9 and October 13.

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