DUBAI: Arab chemist Omar M. Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, sharing the honor with Susumu Kitagawa (Kyoto University) and Richard Robson (University of Melbourne) “for the development of metal-organic frameworks.”
Yaghi, born in Jordan to Palestinian parents, was granted Saudi citizenship in 2021. In 2015 he won the King Faisal International Prize for Science for seminal contributions to molecular architecture.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the laureates created a new MOF whose vast internal cavities allowed gases and other chemicals to flow in and out. MOFs have opened routes to harvesting water from desert air, capturing carbon dioxide, storing toxic gases and catalyzing reactions, among other uses.
The prize is worth 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.2 million), shared equally by the recipients.
Beyond Berkeley, Yaghi co-directs the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology-UC Berkeley Center of Excellence on nanomaterials for clean energy, reflecting extensive research ties with Saudi partners in areas including MOFs and nanocrystals.
