Yaghi was born to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, where his family shared a one-room home with the cattle the family was raising. “It’s quite a journey and science allows you to do it,” he said in an interview published on the Nobel website, adding that his parents could barely read or write. “Science is the greatest equalising force in the world,” he said.

Omar M. Yaghi, Born 1965 in Amman, Jordan. PhD 1990 from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA. Professor at University of California, Berkeley, USA.

Prize amount: 11 million Swedish kronor to be shared equally between the laureates

Yaghi, who said he was astonished and delighted to win the award, was 10 years old when he found a book on molecules in the library, and it was the beginning of a life-long love of chemistry. “The deeper you dig, the more beautifully you find things are constructed,” he told the Nobel website.

The chemists, working separately but adding to each other’s breakthroughs, devised ways to make stable metal organic frameworks, which may be compared with the timber framework of a house.

These structures can absorb and contain gases inside these frameworks, with many practical applications today — such as capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sucking water out of dry desert air.

The first step into what would have been a decades-long journey was in 1989 when Robson tested atoms’ properties in a new way, combining positively charged copper ions with a four-armed molecule. This had a chemical group that was attracted to copper ions at the end of each arm, reads a description in the Nobel Prize’s statement.

When they were combined, they formed a shape similar to a diamond filled with cavities. But the crystal would collapse easily. That is when Kitagawa and Yaghi entered the frame. Working separately between 1992 and 2003, they made a series of discoveries to make the metal frameworks stable. Kitagawa showed that they could be made flexible while Yaghi discovered that they can be modified using rational design.

“We named Kitagawa and Yaghi Citation Laureates in 2010, based on their exceptional citation records in the Web of Science — a clear signal, even then, of their profound influence on the field, said David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate.

“Their highly cited papers reflected a rapidly expanding area of research, already two decades in the making at that time. Notably, both have been named Highly Cited Researchers every year since 2014, demonstrating that their contributions have not only stood the test of time but have continued to shape and lead the field as it has grown,” Pendlebury said.

The first Nobel of 2025 was announced on Monday. The prize in medicine went to Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

Tuesday’s physics prize went to John Clarke, Michel H Devoret and John M Martinis for their research on the weird world of subatomic quantum tunnelling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing.

Chemistry Nobel Prize awarded to trio in field of metal organic frameworks

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M Yaghi’s work can be used to harvest water from desert air.

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Olof Ramstroem, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, address a news conference to announce the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden on October 8, 2025 [AFP]

By News Agencies

Published On 8 Oct 2025

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M Yaghi for their work in the development of metal organic frameworks (MOF).

The three scientists, who won the award on Wednesday, come from the universities of Kyoto in Japan, Melbourne in Australia and Berkeley in the United States, respectively.

The trio have created “molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow”, read a statement from the Nobel Prize. Such constructions can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or break down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment.

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

According to Olof Ramstrom, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, the new form of molecular architecture can be compared with the handbag of the fictional Harry Potter character Hermione Granger: small on the outside but very large on the inside.

Kitagawa told the Nobel press conference that he was deeply honoured by the award: “My dream is to capture air and separate air to – for instance, in CO2 or oxygen or water or something – and convert this to useful materials using renewable energy”.

Omar M. Yaghi

Interview

Navigate to: Summary- Susumu Kitagawa- Richard Robson– Facts– Interview– Photo gallery– Other resources Prize announcement Press release Popular information Advanced information

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025

“I set out to build beautiful things and solve intellectual problems”

Omar Yaghi was just changing flights when he had heard the news that he had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In this conversation, recorded as he was departing on the next leg of his journey, Yaghi speaks about his early life as a refugee in Jordan, the wonderful way his field has developed, and the overwhelming draw of the beauty of chemistry.

Omar Yaghi: Hello.

Adam Smith: Hello, Professor Yaghi. This is Adam Smith calling from nobelprize.org, the website of the Nobel Prize.

OY: Hi.

AS: Many congratulations on the award.

OY: Thank you. Thank you very much.

AS: Is it okay to talk just for very few minutes to record a quick interview for the website?

OY: Sure. I’m on a flight and they’re just pulling out of the gate. But yes, I’ll be delighted to talk to you as long as the connection is on.

AS: How very kind. And what a place to catch you!

OY: Well, they called me as I was landing from my other flight.

AS: You never know when the news will come. Yes.

OY: Yes, yes.

AS: And oh gosh, your first reaction to the news?

OY: Astonished, delighted, overwhelmed.

AS: Special in so many ways. You’re known as the father of the field of metal-organic frameworks.

OY: Yes.

AS: You’re, I think perhaps the first Nobel Laureate to be born in Jordan. I don’t know?

OY: That’s very possible. That may very well be, yes.

AS: What a journey you have been on with your chemistry and your life. Amazing.

OY: It has. I mean, you know, I grew up in a very humble home and we were a dozen of us in one small room, sharing it with the cattle that we used to raise. So yes. And I was born in a family of refugees and my parents barely could read or write. I think my father finished sixth grade and my mother couldn’t read and write. So it’s quite a journey, and science allows you to do it. I mean, science is the greatest equalizing force in the world.

AS: Yes, indeed. And it’s a testament to the fact that talent exists everywhere, if one just gives it some opportunity to thrive.

OY: I agree. I agree. Smart people, talented people, skilled people exist everywhere. That’s why we really should focus on unleashing their potential through providing them with opportunity.

AS: Indeed, indeed. And it’s a huge, […] I’m sorry to catch you when this announcement is happening.

OY: No, no, that’s okay.

AS: It must be extraordinary to have seen this field flourish to the extent that it has. It’s just been 30 years since, your first forays into it.

OY: Yeah, I mean, I started at Arizona State University in my independent career. My dream was to publish at least one paper that receives 100 citations. Now my students say that our group has garnered over 250,000 citations. So yes, it was totally unexpected. But again, the beauty of chemistry is that if you learn how to control matter on the atomic and molecular level, well, the potential is great. We opened a gold mine in that way. And the field grew and it allowed people to come in and become stars in their own right, due to their own contribution. That’s the beautiful thing about this field, is that we are, I would say it’s a field that allows the scientists to go in and find their direction and build their career, build their ideas, and become pillars of the field.

AS: Fulfilling this joint objective of allowing people to be so intellectually curious and also potentially solving certain problems or at least helping alleviate certain problems like polluted water.

OY: Yes. Like I said, I think, once you control matter on the atomic molecular level, well, now you can imagine things that you want to make to address a specific problem, whether it’s a large problem facing society like water and CO2 capture or making sensors or, therapeutics, converting harmful molecules into harmless molecules, all these become possible because you can control and tweak and, first construct frameworks and then go in and, almost surgically attach or take away components that allow you to build the appropriate cavities that seek out specific components of a much larger mixture. It’s very, very exciting. I mean, it really is the dream of chemists is to be able to build chemical structures by the building block approach. We figured out the recipe on how to do that, the conditions under which to do that. What we found is an immense diversity of frameworks and correspondingly an immense number of applications.

AS: It’s so nice that today allows one to focus once again on the just the beauty of chemistry and the possibilities.

OY: Well, thank you for mentioning that, actually I was originally very interested in the beauty of molecules. In fact, when I was 10 years old, I went to the library and opened a book and there I found molecules we call, well, we call them stick and ball diagrams of molecules. I didn’t know they were molecules, but somehow I was immediately drawn to them. And later I learned that these are molecules that make up our world. And since then, I’ve chosen the problems to investigate, chemical problems, intellectual problems, based on the beauty of the molecules that are to be made and that are studied. So I didn’t, I mean, I don’t know if you want to print this, but when I set out, I didn’t set out to solve the world’s carbon problem or, or the water problem. I set out to, to build beautiful things and solve intellectual problems.

AS: That’s just lovely. And thank goodness for libraries.

OY: Exactly. Well, you know, when I give lectures to younger students, some of them ask me, how do you become passionate about something? How do you fall in love with chemistry? And I keep saying, just pick anything in your surrounding and think deeply about what it is made of and, and dig deeper. And the deeper you dig, the more beautiful things you find that things are constructed. So that at least, allows you an opportunity, the best chance to be attracted to chemistry. You don’t need to have a magnificent plan yet at such an early age, you just need to have, you need to go with what is drawing you towards a problem or a field.

AS: That’s deeply encouraging. We’re going to be getting into trouble any second, someone is going to tell you to turn that off.

OY: Yes, yes.

AS: And I guess perhaps on this flight, as news of this spreads around the plane, there will be celebrations. Who knows? At least among those sitting closest to you must have been listening, interested. Right. Anyway, I’m so grateful to you for talking to us. Thank you very much indeed.

OY: Thank you.

AS: Congratulations again.

OY: Thank you. Bye-bye.

AS: Bye-bye.

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To cite this section
MLA style: Omar M. Yaghi – Interview. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2025. Thu. 9 Oct 2025. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2025/yaghi/interview/>

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025

Press release

Navigate to: Summary- Susumu Kitagawa- Richard Robson- Omar M. Yaghi Prize announcement Press release Popular information Advanced information

English
English (pdf)
Swedish
Swedish (pdf)

8 October 2025

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 to

Susumu Kitagawa
Kyoto University, Japan

Richard Robson
University of Melbourne, Australia

Omar M. Yaghi
University of California, Berkeley, USA

“for the development of metal–organic frameworks”

Their molecular architecture contains rooms for chemistry

The Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry 2025 have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow. These constructions, metal–organic frameworks, can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyse chemical reactions.

Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025. They have developed a new form of molecular architecture. In their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones that are linked by long organic (carbon-based) molecules. Together, the metal ions and molecules are organised to form crystals that contain large cavities. These porous materials are called metal–organic frameworks (MOF). By varying the building blocks used in the MOFs, chemists can design them to capture and store specific substances. MOFs can also drive chemical reactions or conduct electricity.

“Metal–organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions,” says Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

It all started in 1989, when Richard Robson tested utilising the inherent properties of atoms in a new way. He combined positively charged copper ions with a four-armed molecule; this had a chemical group that was attracted to copper ions at the end of each arm.

When they were combined, they bonded to form a well-ordered, spacious crystal. It was like a diamond filled with innumerable cavities.

Robson immediately recognised the potential of his molecular construction, but it was unstable and collapsed easily. However, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi provided this building method with a firm foundation; between 1992 and 2003 they made, separately, a series of revolutionary discoveries. Kitagawa showed that gases can flow in and out of the constructions and predicted that MOFs could be made flexible. Yaghi created a very stable MOF and showed that it can be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties.

Following the laureates’ groundbreaking discoveries, chemists have built tens of thousands of different MOFs. Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges, with applications that include separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air.