The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry has gone to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for the development of materials full of cavities that can store and release gases such as carbon dioxide, known as metal-organic frameworks. “A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione’s handbag in Harry Potter,” said Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “It can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume.”
Tens of thousands of different metal-organic frameworks have now been created. They have many potential applications, from helping to capture CO2 in chimneys to cleaning up forever chemicals and harvesting water from the air.
In the late 1980s, Richard Robson at the University of Melbourne in Australia was inspired by the ordered structure of diamonds to create the first metal-organic frameworks. Robson realised that it might be possible to use metal ions as nodes, and link them together with carbon-based, or organic, molecules. When the metal ions and organic molecules are mixed together, they self-assemble into ordered frameworks. While the cavities in the diamond framework are small, the cavities in metal-organic frameworks can be much bigger. The cavities in the metal-organic frameworks created by Robson were filled with water.
It was Susumu Kitagawa at Kyoto University in Japan who first created a framework that was stable enough to be dried out and who managed to fill the empty cavities with gas. “He showed that the gases could be taken up, absorbed by the material, and could also be released from the material,” said Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. Kitagawa also went on to create metal-organic frameworks that change shape when gases are added or removed.
Omar Yaghi at the University of California, Berkeley, managed to create frameworks that were even more stable by using metal ion clusters containing zinc and oxygen, and linkers containing carboxylate groups. “This is an astonishing framework because it was highly stable. It was stable all the way up to 300 degrees Celsius,” said Ramström. “But even more remarkable was that it contains an enormous surface area. So just a few grams of this porous material (having many small holes), roughly the same as a small sugar cube, contains as much surface area as a large football pitch that is several thousands of square meters.” Yaghi also went on to show that the cavities in these materials can be made larger, simply by making the linkers longer.
After these fundamental breakthroughs, the field evolved very rapidly, Ramström said. “We see new metal-organic frameworks developed almost every day.”
1.1.What is mentioned as a potential application of MOFs?
A Storing and releasing hydrogen for energy use.
B Removing toxic compounds from wastewater.
C Capturing carbon dioxide from industrial emissions.
D Replacing traditional construction materials.
解析：选C。C 细节理解题。 第二段明确提到，MOFs可用于帮助捕获烟囱中的二氧化碳（“helping to capture CO₂ in chimneys”）。选项C中的“factories”和原文的“chimneys”都指向工业排放。选项A、B和D均未提及。故选C。
2.2.How did Richard Robson’s frameworks differ from the diamond structure?
A Their internal cavities are significantly larger.
B They use organic molecules instead of metal ions.
C They require high temperatures for self-assembly.
D They form a solid structure without cavities.
解析：选A。A 细节理解题。 第三段明确指出，虽然Robson受钻石有序结构启发，但“钻石框架中的空腔很小，而金属有机框架中的空腔可以大得多”（“While the cavities in the diamond framework are small, the cavities in metal-organic frameworks can be much bigger.”）。选项A对原文进行了精准的同义转述。故选A。
3.3.What did Susumu Kitagawa accomplish?
A Found how to remove water from MOFs.
B Invented a room-temperature MOF method.
C Made MOFs with adjustable cavities.
D Created a stable MOF for gas handling.
解析：选D。D 细节理解题。 第四段指出Susumu Kitagawa是第一位制造出足够稳定的框架，能够被干燥并将空腔填充气体的人（“first created a framework that was stable enough to be dried out and who managed to fill the empty cavities with gas”），并展示了气体可被材料吸收和释放（“the gases could be taken up, absorbed by the material, and could also be released”）。选项D “Created a stable MOF for gas handling”精准地整合了“稳定”“气体”和“储存释放”这几个关键信息。故选D。
4.4.What is highlighted about Omar Yaghi's frameworks?
A Conduct electricity under pressure.
B Great heat resistance and huge surface area.
C Change color with different gases.
D Need precious metals for strength.
解析：选B。B 细节理解题。 根据第六段内容可知，Omar Yaghi制造的框架非常稳定，热稳定性高达300摄氏度（“highly stable... stable all the way up to 300 degrees Celsius”），并且更卓越的是具有巨大的表面积（“contains an enormous surface area”），并用糖块与足球场的类比加以说明。选项B “Great heat resistance and huge surface area”是对原文这两个核心特征的高度概括和同义转述。故选B。
5.5.What is the main focus of the passage?
A The fierce competition among three Nobel prize winners.
B The revolutionary material and its key developers.
C The diverse industrial applications of MOFs.
D The history of interdisciplinary research in Nobel awards.
解析：选B。B 主旨大意题。文章通篇主要介绍了2025年诺贝尔化学奖的获奖成果——金属有机框架（MOF），以及三位对此做出开创性贡献的科学家北川进、理查德・罗布森和奥马尔・亚吉。选项B最全面准确地概括了文章的核心内容。故选 B。
