Building Chemistry from “Lego” Blocks: Metal–Organic Frameworks after the 2025 Nobel Prize

Abstract

Leading up to the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the field of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) shifted the material design paradigm by allowing for discrete molecular building blocks to be extended into predesigned porous functional materials. Outside of developing an expansive library of crystal structures and fundamentals of structure–property relationships, application-driven MOF research has led to commercialization of MOF-based materials for direct air capture of CO₂, atmospheric water harvesting, and protection of first responders. Today, the MOF field addresses urgent global challenges related to clean water scarcity, sustainable energy, disease treatment, and advanced technology. This Outlook highlights some of the future MOF research avenues that could define the post-Nobel Prize era of framework chemistry, beginning with the implementation of controlled chemical heterogeneity in well-defined structures to unlock heterogeneous tandem catalysts or materials for gradient drug release. Upcoming studies of adaptive and/or magnetic frameworks will bring MOFs to the forefront of quantum materials research. Finally, this Outlook surveys some of the key challenges to address to expand MOF commercialization. The early years of reticular chemistry have provided the conceptual “blocks” to build a new generation of frameworks that will reshape the materials landscape, from innovative synthetic strategies to quantum computing and beyond.