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KYOTO—When the phone call came at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 8, Susumu Kitagawa thought it was just another annoying telemarketer interrupting his work in the lab.
But the Swedish caller would change his life forever.
Kitagawa had been named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his groundbreaking work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—a discovery that could help combat climate change and revolutionize energy storage.
“I was shocked. I thought it was one of those strange solicitation calls I often get,” said Kitagawa, 74, a distinguished professor at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS), at a news conference immediately afterward. “I am deeply moved.”
The next morning, Kitagawa arrived at the university in Kyoto's Sakyo Ward to applause from more than 100 staff members who greeted the new Nobel laureate.
“I was just an ordinary old man and now everything’s changed. This isn’t good,” Kitagawa mused.
“It’s in the quiet moments that various ideas come to me. I’m wondering what to do now.”
Kitagawa said, “I was so exhausted that I just collapsed into bed last night, but I woke up feeling great this morning.”
“I have so much to do—research, and also administrative duties as a university director, which I'd love to be excused from doing,” he joked, drawing laughter from his colleagues.
ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY
Kitagawa’s award-winning MOFs are materials filled with countless tiny, orderly pores. These structures can absorb a wide variety of gases, making them useful in both industrial and environmental applications.
His breakthrough came around 1990. At the time, Kitagawa was at Kindai University, trying to determine the 3-D structure of chemical compounds made from metals and organic materials.
He borrowed a supercomputer at Kyoto University, but because its use was shared with many other researchers and required processing a massive amount of data, it took a long time.
One day, growing impatient, Kitagawa asked a student to sketch the compound's structure on paper in mid-calculation.
“Professor, there are pores in it,” the student said.
The drawing revealed a honeycomb-like pattern.
“I thought it was incredibly interesting,” Kitagawa recalled. “My intuition told me the pores, not the main structure, might be useful. I didn’t know how right away, though.”
Afterward, Kitagawa and his team successfully synthesized materials with these microscopic pores. At first, the framework was unstable and collapsed easily, but through repeated experiments, they eventually created a stable structure capable of storing methane gas.
FROM REJECTION TO REVOLUTION
The discovery was so revolutionary that it overturned the conventional wisdom of the scientific world at the time. As a result, it was not readily accepted.
When Kitagawa presented his findings at a conference in the United States in 1999, he was met with a barrage of criticism from international researchers, who told him, “That's wrong.”
The substance Kitagawa found was an organic compound with organic matter attached to a metal (an inorganic substance). At the time, the prevailing belief was that such organic compounds were too unstable for practical use.
But Kitagawa did not yield to the criticism and continued his research. He expanded its applications to “separation,” in which a specific gas is extracted from a mixture, and “conversion,” where one gas is transformed into another inside the pores.
PHILOSOPHY ROOTED IN EMPTINESS
An avid reader since his junior high school days, Kitagawa said the foundation for his focus on the countless pores in materials came from books he read as a freshman at Kyoto University.
In books by famed physicist Hideki Yukawa, Kitagawa was captivated by the Lao-Zhuang philosophical concept of “muyo-no-yo” (the usefulness of the useless), the idea that things that appear to have no purpose are, in fact, useful.
For example, a saying from the legendary Chinese philosopher Laozi goes, “We knead clay to make pottery. The inside of the pottery may seem like a useless empty space, but it is the empty space that makes the pottery useful.”
Chemistry typically focuses on matter—that is, things packed with atoms and molecules. But Kitagawa focused on the “pores,” which are empty spaces.
“That idea—that even nothingness has meaning—had a huge impact on me,” he explained. “A pore seems useless. But if you put atoms or molecules in it, store them, or transform them, it becomes useful. Just a shift in perspective can change everything.”
THE COMING AGE OF GASES
Kitagawa envisions a world where the new materials he developed could eliminate conflicts over energy resources.
The MOFs, with their customizable pores, can absorb not just solids and liquids but even tiny gas molecules. They could one day capture carbon dioxide or extract energy from the air.
At a news conference on Oct. 8, Kitagawa said, “Air is composed of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. With these, we can create proteins and fuels. Gases are becoming more and more promising.”
He believes humans are entering “the age of gases,” following the age of solids, which brought about the Industrial Revolution with coal, and the age of liquids that was dominated by oil.
“Air is invisible gold,” he said. “Coal and oil created disparities between resource-rich and resource-poor countries. But air is everywhere. Even small nations can make full use of it. If we can extract energy from it, conflicts over resources should disappear.”
According to Kitagawa, more than 40 startups have been launched worldwide to solve environmental and energy challenges.
While there are still hurdles to practical applications, he said he is optimistic, stating, “Science is advancing at a tremendous speed, with things such as AI (artificial intelligence), so I believe it can be achieved within this century.”
VISION, GRIT, GRATITUDE
Kitagawa said his past struggles were “countless.” But he never lost heart, driven by the belief that “a scientist needs a vision and an attitude of taking on challenges with curiosity,” and he diligently continued his research.
“What I do is create new materials. I have enjoyed the challenge of trying new things and making new things for more than 30 years,” he said.
“There are many times when things don’t go well. In chemistry, teamwork is crucial,” he added, expressing gratitude to the members of his lab.
Asked by a reporter for a message for the next generation, Kitagawa quoted the famed 19th-century French microbiologist Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
Kitagawa said, “Good teachers, good friends and good relationships. These things don’t just suddenly happen to you one day. They blossom when you cherish all your experiences.”
RECIPE FOR GOOD CHEMISTRY
Kitagawa's team was also overjoyed by the announcement from Sweden.
“We’ve been waiting and waiting for this for years. But this year, I was sure it would happen,” said associate professor Kenichi Otake, 37,
Though Kitagawa is known for his strict research standards, he fosters an egalitarian lab culture where undergraduates and postdoctoral fellows debate as equals—a recipe for good chemistry in more ways than one.
The team members often hike together in Kyoto’s mountains, such as Kurama and Fushimi, and every three months, they enjoy some of the favorite wine that Kitagawa collected on his overseas trips.
At times, Kitagawa, a keen cook, will bake bread at home and serve it to everyone.
Lecturer Hirotoshi Sakamoto, 46, who has been working in the lab since his undergraduate days, joked, “He bakes German bread packed solid inside, and (unlike his research subject) it doesn’t have many holes!”
