Trio wins chemistry Nobel

Three scientists won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry Wednesday for developing a method of designing molecular structures whose multiple uses include tackling climate change by capturing carbon dioxide and harvesting water from desert air.

Japan's Susumu Kitagawa, UK-born Richard Robson and American-Jordanian Omar Yaghi were honoured for their groundbreaking discoveries dating from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

Thanks to the trio's discoveries, said the jury, chemists had been able to build tens of thousands of so called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

"Some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind's greatest challenges," it added.

It listed applications such as "separating PFAS from water, breaking down traces of pharmaceuticals in the environment, capturing carbon dioxide or harvesting water from desert air".

Revolutionary discoveries

In 1989, Robson, 88, tested using the properties of atoms in a new way using copper ions.

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

While Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne, realised the potential of his discovery the molecular construction was unstable.

It was Kitagawa, a professor at Kyoto University, and Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who provided a proper foundation for the building method.

Between 1992 and 2003, working separately, they made 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," said the jury.

Yaghi created "a very stable MOF" and showed that it could be modified using rational design, giving it new and desirable properties," it added.