Nordic Life Science 1
46 SPACES WITH INFINITE OPPORTUNITIES Metal-organ
ic frameworks are opening up exciting and previously unknown doors in many different fields, including the life science industry. T E X T B Y MA L I N O T MA N I T HIS YEAR’S NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATES in Chemistry, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar M. Yaghi, have been able to create molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow. These constructions have been named metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) because metal ions function as cornerstones in them. The metal ions are linked by long organic molecules and these two components are organized to form crystals containing large cavities. The cavities make the material porous. Having the characteristics of high porosity, chemical versatility, thermal stability, and selective adsorption, MOFs can be used for a number of different cool, exciting, and helpful processes, for example harvesting water from desert air, storing hydrogen, capturing carbon hydroxide, and delivering pharmaceuticals in the body. “Nobel recognition in this field was long expected, it is a major area not only in chemistry but also in physics,” says Mantas Šimėnas, Professor at Vilnius University’s faculty of Physics, who has been studying these structures for over a decade. “MOFs have become one of the most exciting areas in materials science, opening up possibilities for more THE NOBEL PRIZE // CHEMISTRY