Kitagawa Among Three Awarded Nobel for Chemistry

Kyodo/APP

Stockholm: Japanese scientist Susumu Kitagawa, along with two others, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for developing porous materials that can store and release gases such as natural gas, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced.

Kitagawa became the 31st Japanese Nobel laureate, following Shimon Sakaguchi, a 74-year-old distinguished professor at the University of Osaka, who won the Physics Prize on Monday for his team’s groundbreaking discoveries on how the immune system is kept in check.

The three laureates — Susumu Kitagawa, 74, a distinguished professor at Kyoto University; Richard Robson, a professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia; and Omar Yaghi, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley — were recognized for their work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

These are networks of metal ions and organic molecules capable of capturing and releasing gases, and the trio predicted that such structures could be flexible, the academy said.

After Robson discovered a well-ordered, spacious crystal in 1989, Kitagawa and Yaghi independently improved the fragile material between 1992 and 2003, making it more stable, flexible, and tunable through rational design.

“It is a tremendous honor, and I’m truly moved,” Kitagawa said at a press conference after the announcement, adding that teamwork among the three led to the award.

According to the academy, metal-organic frameworks can be used to harvest water from desert air, capture carbon dioxide, store toxic gases, or catalyze chemical reactions.

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the materials have “enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions.”

At the news conference, Kitagawa reflected on his research journey, saying there are “limitless hardships” but the key to success is to “stay curious and keep taking on challenges.”

After earning his Ph.D. from Kyoto University in 1979, Kitagawa taught at Kindai University in Osaka Prefecture and Tokyo Metropolitan University before returning to his alma mater as a professor.

“Kitagawa was good at motivating students,” said Shigeyuki Masaoka, a 48-year-old professor at the University of Osaka who studied in Kitagawa’s laboratory for five years.

He added, “Even now, I remember the professor’s words and reflect on what to do in tough times.”

Kitagawa has received numerous awards both at home and abroad, including the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba released a statement expressing pride in Kitagawa’s “discovery of truth through his ingenious ideas,” adding that the award, following Sakaguchi’s, will “greatly encourage the people.”

Kitagawa became the ninth Japanese recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the first in six years since Akira Yoshino, an honorary fellow at Asahi Kasei Corp., received the award in 2019.

Yoshino and Kitagawa both studied in the same laboratory lineage at Kyoto University, which traces back to Kenichi Fukui, Japan’s first Nobel laureate in chemistry, who received the prize in 1981.