Nobelpriset i kemi 2025 går till Susumu Kitagawa från Kyoto University, Japan, Richard Robson från University of Melbourne, Australien och Omar M. Yaghi från University of California, Berkeley, USA, för deras bidrag till utvecklingen av metallorganiska ramverk (Metal-Organic Frameworks, MOF).

MOF:ar är molekylära byggnadsverk. De är regelbundna kristaller med stora hålrum, där metalljoner är hörnstenarna som länkas samman med långa organiska molekyler. De kan designas för att exempelvis fånga in och lagra olika ämnen, driva kemiska reaktioner eller leda ström. Exempelvis kan de användas för att skörda vatten ur ökenluft, fånga in koldioxid, förvara giftiga gaser eller driva kemiska reaktioner.

─ De metallorganiska ramverken bär på en enorm potential. De ger oss tidigare oanade möjligheter att skräddarsy nya material som har nya funktioner, säger Heiner Linke, ordförande för Nobelkommittén för kemi, i ett pressmeddelande.

Forskare kommenterar Nobelpriset i kemi 2025:

Kemisamfundet bjuder in sina medlemmar inom Nobelprisets fält att kommentera årets pris. Se mer information om detta nedan.

Här kommer svar från de forskare som har svarat hittills. Listan kommer att uppdateras veckan ut.

James Gardner, universitetslektor vid Tillämpad fysikalisk kemi på KTH:

─ Som oorganisk koordinationskemist anser jag att MOF:ar är ett utmärkt val för 2025 års Nobelpris i kemi. Kärnan i MOF:arnas genomslag ligger i koordinationskemiens rika strukturella mångfald. Det som gör MOF:arna så framgångsrika, och därmed Nobelprisvärdiga, är deras modulära metod för att bygga tredimensionella strukturer. Genom att kombinera relativt enkla molekylära byggstenar kan man skapa en nästintill oändlig variation av nya material.

Ken Inge (Andrew Kentaro Inge), docent Stockholm University

Do you think this work was worthy of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and if so, why?

─ Absolutely! MOFs are arguably the most diverse class of nanoporous materials, with seemingly limitless chemical compositions and structures. Chemists can engineer their architectures with atomic precision, allowing the fine-tuning of their chemical and physical properties. They are of interest for a broad range of applications, including pollution remediation, gas and fuel storage, harvesting clean water from the air, chemical separations, sensing, and drug delivery, among many others. I also feel that the timing of the Nobel Prize makes sense, as the field has matured to the point where industrial-scale production has recently begun, with several companies now developing devices based on MOF technology for various applications.

MOFs are arguably the most diverse class of nanoporous materials, with seemingly limitless chemical compositions and structures.

What have these researchers’ discoveries meant to you and your own research, and to research in general?
─ I have certainly been inspired by the ideas developed by all three laureates. It could perhaps be said that all MOF chemists build upon the foundation established early on by Richard Robson. Omar Yaghi played a pivotal role in making MOFs more stable through strong metal–ligand interactions, exemplified by the use of carboxylate-functionalized organic linkers. With strong metal–ligand interactions in mind, we have explored the use of natural polyphenols containing catechol groups to construct new MOFs, which have demonstrated chemical robustness. Susumu Kitagawa’s work has profoundly changed the way I view crystal structures as a whole. We often imagine crystals as rigid and static objects, but they are often more flexible than one might initially believe. This more dynamic understanding of materials is vital for advancing our understanding of their properties.

Do you have any comments about the people who received the prize?
─ I would like to thank these pioneers for their monumental contributions to developing the fascinating science of MOFs. Thanks to their nearly limitless compositional possibilities, MOFs provide a platform for chemists to be endlessly creative in designing and applying these beautiful materials. The laureates have inspired a new generation of chemists, and I can’t wait to see how the field will continue to develop!

Miguel Rivero-Crespo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stockholm University:

Do you think this research was worthy of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and if so, why?

─ Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) deserved to be recognized with a Nobel Prize because it has become a well stablished field with increasing scientific and technological impact. While MOFs have been considered among the most promising materials in the last decades, large-scale applications of MOFs have only started to take off very recently, so it is still a bit early to judge the impact that MOFs will have in society compared to other inventions that have been awarded the Nobel Prize in the past such as Li-ion batteries, that were already widespread at the time of the award.

What have these researchers’ discoveries meant to you and your own research, and to research in general?

─ As a chemist with a background in both organic chemistry and materials, I consider MOFs to be the perfect combination of the two research fields I love the most. In my research group we work in developing solid catalysts for organic reactions and we have identified MOFs as the perfect platform to rationally design our catalysts. Thanks to their modularity, we can introduce well-defined catalytically active sites inside the MOFs’ pores to promote challenging organic reactions. More broadly, MOFs have shifted the culture of materials discovery from empirical trial-and-error to rational design and assembly, and have created a hub in which different applications such as catalysis, separations, sensing, and energy-related technologies converge.

Do you have any comments about the researchers who received the prize?

─ The three awardees are terrific scientists and I love how their seminal contributions have shown the power of chemistry: with an elegant idea, simple chemistry concepts and a few building blocks, they have invented an entirely new family of materials with thousands of beautiful three-dimensional structures that have applications in numerous and very diverse fields. Additionally, It is also important to remark the numerous contributions of many other researchers whose creativity has propelled the field of MOFs to its current maturity. As a whole, I see the MOF community as welcoming and open to new concepts that have allowed the transformation of beautiful ideas into real-world applications.

Fler röster om priserna:

Lars Öhrström, studierektor och professor i kemi och kemiteknik samt kemi och biokemi vid Chalmers, skrev den första läroboken om MOF:ar. Här kommenterar han priset: Han skrev första läroboken om området som belönas med Nobelpris i kemi

Karl Börjesson, professor i fysikalisk kemi vid Göteborgs universitet samt grundare till Sektionen för fysikalisk kemi, kommenterar priset på gu.se: Skräddarsydda hål öppnar möjligheter för vetenskapen

Tom Willhammar, docent i materialkemi och lektor i oorganisk kemi vid Stockholms universitet, kommenterar priset på su.se: Mångsidig teknik som bidrar till lösningar på våra största utmaningar

Aktuellt: Se Ken Inge i Aktuellts inslag om Nobelpriset i kemi från 8:e oktober 2025 här (25 minuter och 15 sekunder in i videon): Aktuellt 8 oktober 21:00 | SVT Play I inslaget hörs även bland andra Olof Ramström (professor i organisk kemi), Peter Brzezinski (professor i biokemi vid Stockholms universitet samt sekreterare i Nobelkommittén för kemi vid Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien, KVA) och Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, professor på kemiinstitutionen vid Rice University i Houston, Texas, samt ledamot i i Nobelkommittén för kemi vid KVA.

Invitation to comment on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry / Inbjudan till att kommentera Nobelpriset i kemi

Varje år publicerar Kemisamfundet en artikel med kommentarer från forskare inom vinnarnas forskningsfält, se ett exempel från 2024 här: Forskarna kommenterar Nobelpriset i kemi 2024

Kan du ge en kommentar?

• Tycker du att detta var värt Nobelpriset i kemi och i så fall varför?
• Vad har dessa personers upptäckter betytt för dig och din forskning och för forskningen i stort?
• Har du någon kommentar om de personer som fick priset?

Om du skulle vilja ge en kommentar, mejla erika.lindbom@kemisamfundet.se. Namnge mejlet ”Nobelpriset”, skriv dina svar och ange gärna var du arbetar eller studerar. Återkom gärna så fort som möjligt men nyheten kommer att uppdateras hela veckan.

Question in English:

Each year, the Swedish Chemical Society publishes an article with comments from researchers in the prizewinners’ field of research.

Could you give a comment on this years’ award?

• Do you think this research was worthy of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and if so, why?
• What have these researchers’ discoveries meant to you and your own research, and to research in general?
• Do you have any comments about the people who received the prize?

If you would like to give a comment, please email erika.lindbom@kemisamfundet.se. Please use the title “Nobelpriset” for your email, write your answers, and include where you work or study. Please get back to us as soon as possible.