On 8 October 2025, Hans Ellegren, Secretary-General of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded to Japanese Chemist Susumu Kitagawa, Australian Chemist Richard Robson, and Jordanian-American chemist Omar Mwannes Yaghi, during a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.
- They were awarded for “developing Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs)”, porous materials used in gas storage, catalysis, and drug delivery.
- The award ceremony will be held on 10 December 2025 in Stockholm, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
Exam Hints:
- What? Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025
- Organizer: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Laureates: Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi
- Recognition: Development of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs)
- Prize Components: 11 million SEK cash (approximately Rs 9.5 crore / USD 1.2 million)
- Award Ceremony: December 10, 2025 (Anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death)
- 2024 Laureates: David Baker, John Jumper and Demis Hassabis
- Indian Chemistry Nobel Winner: Ramakrishnan
- Total Awards (1901–2025): 117 awards to 200 laureates
- Multiple Winners: Frederick Sanger & Barry Sharpless won twice
About Discovery of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs):
Definition: MOFs are crystalline materials composed of metal ions connected by organic linkers, forming a network with an exceptionally high surface area and porosity.
Applications: MOFs are multifunctional materials widely used in gas storage, separation, carbon capture, catalysis, drug delivery, and environmental remediation.
Sustainable Impact: By enabling efficient CO₂ sequestration and the purification of air and water, MOFs support advances in clean energy, environmental protection, and sustainable chemical processes.
Winners of Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025:
| Nobel Laureate | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| Susumu Kitagawa | Development of Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOFs) |
| Richard Robson | |
| Omar Mwannes Yaghi |
About the Laureates:
Susumu Kitagawa: Japanese Chemist and Professor at Kyoto University (Japan)
- He was recognised for pioneering work on coordination polymers and porous materials.
Richard Robson: Australian Chemist and Professor at the University of Melbourne (Australia)
- He contributed to the structural design and development of MOFs.
Omar Mwannes Yaghi: Jordanian-American chemist Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (United States of America, USA)
- He is credited with coining the term “metal–organic framework” and advancing its applications in gas storage and catalysis.
About Nobel Prize in Chemistry:
Medal Design: The Nobel Prize medal was created by Swedish sculptor and engraver Erik Lindberg, featuring a left-profile portrait of Alfred Nobel on the obverse.
- Reverse Imagery: The medal shows the Goddess of Nature, Isis, emerging from clouds with a cornucopia, while the Genius of Science lifts the veil covering her face.
- Inscription: The medal bears the Latin inscription “Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes”, which translates to “It is beneficial to have improved human life through discovered arts.”
Prize Details:
- Components: Nobel laureates receive a gold medal, a personal diploma, and a cash award.
- Cash Award 2025: The total cash prize for the Nobel Prize in 2025 is 11 million Swedish kronor (SEK) or USD 1.2 million, to be shared among the three laureates.
Facts of Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1901 to 2025):
Total Awards: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded 117 times to 200 laureates between 1901 and 2025.
- Notably, Frederick Sanger and Barry Sharpless are two chemists who have each won the Nobel Prize twice.
Distribution of Prizes:
- 63 prizes were awarded to a single laureate.
- 25 prizes were shared by 2 laureates.
- 29 prizes were shared by 3 laureates.
Female Laureates: Out of the 200 laureates, 8 are women. Among these eight women, Marie Curie and Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry individually, without sharing it.
First Woman Laureate: Marie Skłodowska-Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium.
Years Not Awarded: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was not awarded in 1916, 1931, 1934, 1940, 1941, and 1942.
Youngest Laureate: Frédéric Joliot-Curie received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 at the age of 35 for his synthesis of new radioactive elements.
Oldest Laureate: John B. Goodenough received the prize in 2019 at the age of 97 for the development of lithium-ion batteries. He is also the oldest laureate in all Nobel Prize categories.
Indian-Origin Laureate: An Indian-American biologist, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 alongside Thomas A. Steitz and Ada Yonath for his studies on the structure and function of the ribosome.
2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded to American biochemist David Baker, American chemist John Jumper, and Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, for their pioneering work in protein structure prediction.
About Nobel Prize:
Origin: The Nobel Prize was established from the fortune of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur.
Administration: It is managed by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden.
Purpose: The award honors discoveries and achievements that benefit humanity.
Fields: Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.
- In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was introduced.
Click here for More Information about the Nobel Prize
