Chemistry Nobel Award Celebrates 3 Experts for Pioneering Work on MOF Structures
This year's prestigious award in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M Yaghi for their influential contributions on MOFs.
Their investigations has potential to solve numerous pressing worldwide problems, for instance CO2 capture to address global warming or curbing synthetic debris through advanced chemistry.
“I'm deeply honoured and delighted, thank you very much,” said Prof. Kitagawa in a telephone conversation to the media event following learning the news.
“How long do I have to stay here? Because I have to go out for a meeting,” he noted.
The three recipients will share monetary reward totaling 11 mln SEK (about £872k).
Molecular Architecture at the Center of their Breakthrough
The researchers' research centers around how chemical compounds are built collectively into intricate networks. The Nobel committee termed it “molecular design”.
The experts formulated methods to construct assemblies with large voids among the molecules, allowing different compounds to travel via them.
Such structures are referred to as metal-organic frameworks.
This reveal was made by the academic institution in a press event in Stockholm, Sweden.
Professor Kitagawa is affiliated with the University of Kyoto in the Asian nation, Professor Richard Robson is at the Melbourne University in Australia, and Prof. Yaghi is connected to the UC in the USA.
Previous Award Recipients in Science Fields
Last year, three other scientists were granted the prize for their work on proteins, which are critical elements of biological systems.
This is the 3rd science prize awarded in the current week. Earlier this week, John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis won the physics award for their contributions on quantum mechanics that paved the way for the creation of the quantum processor.
On Monday, 3 experts' work on how the biological immunity combats harmful microbes earned them the award for medical science.
One recipient, Dr. Ramsdell, was unaware of the news for nearly a day because he was on an off-grid trek.
