2025 Nobel Prize For Chemistry Awarded For a Whole Lot of Nothing

Three scientists have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering a new form of molecular architecture: crystals that contain large cavities.

Susumu Kitagawa from Kyoto University, Japan, Richard Robson from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Omar M. Yaghi from the

University of California, Berkeley, in the US, will share a prize sum of 11 million Swedish kronor (£870,000).

The prize recognises the pioneering contributions of the three scientists in the development of something called metal-organic frameworks (Mofs).

Mofs are a diverse class of crystalline materials that have attracted much attention in chemistry due to the presence of microscopic open cavities in their structures. They are helping to revolutionise green technology, such as harvesting