Omar Yaghi
Balzan Lecture

Omar M. Yaghi is the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. He is widely known for the discovery and for pioneering the development of several extensive classes of new materials: Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs), and Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks (ZIFs). These materials have the highest surface areas known to date, making them useful in many applications, such as the storage and separation of hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide or the capture of water from air for fresh water production. The building block approach he developed has led to an exponential growth in the creation of new materials having a diversity and multiplicity previously unknown in chemistry. He termed this field “Reticular Chemistry” and defines it as “stitching molecular building blocks into extended structures by strong bonds.” Yaghi has successfully taken the field of reticular chemistry all the way from discovery to applications, and changed the way scientists think about making and using new materials.

In 2024, his outstanding accomplishments were recognized with a Balzan Prize. One year later, he was awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Richard Robson and Susumu Kitagawa.