STOCKHOLM, October 8. /TASS/. Japan’s Susumu Kitagawa, Australia’s Richard Robson and US’ Omar M. Yaghi will receive this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences reported.
The scientists will be rewarded "for the development of metal-organic frameworks," the Nobel Committee said.
According to experts, the chemists developed a new form of molecular architecture, creating molecular constructions with vast spaces that can transmit gases and other chemical substances. Metal-organic frameworks (MOF) are a class of hybrid materials, coordination polymers or metal ions linked by ligands that form an extended array. Such constructions "can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases or catalyze chemical reactions," the committee said. The scientists have already created tens of thousands of such MOFs.
"In their constructions, metal ions function as cornerstones that are linked by long organic (carbon-based) molecules. Together, the metal ions and molecules are organized to form crystals that contain large cavities. These porous materials are called metal-organic frameworks. 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," the press release posted on the Nobel Prize website said.
"Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions," Nobel Committee for Chemistry Chairman Heiner Linke noted.
Susumu Kitagawa was born in Kyoto, Japan, in 1951. He works at Kyoto University. Richard Robson was born in 1937 in Glusburn, UK. He is a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Omar M. Yaghi was born in 1965 in Amman, Jordan. He is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.