Chemist
Omar M. Yaghi (; born February 9, 1965) is the James and Neeltje Tretter Chair Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, an affiliate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the founding director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute, and an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences as well as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Early life and education.
Yaghi was born in Amman, Jordan, in 1965, to a refugee family originally from Mandatory Palestine. He grew up in a household with many children, had limited access to clean water and without electricity. At the age of 15, he moved to the United States at the encouragement of his father. Although he knew little English, he began classes at Hudson Valley Community College, and later transferred to the University at Albany, SUNY, to finish his college degree. He began his graduate studies at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and received his PhD in 1990 under the guidance of Walter G. Klemperer. He was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University (1990–1992) with Richard H. Holm. In 2021, Yaghi was granted Saudi citizenship.
Academic career.
He was on the faculties of Arizona State University (1992–1998) as an assistant professor, the University of Michigan (1999–2006) as the Robert W. Parry Professor of Chemistry, and the University of California, Los Angeles (2007–2012) as the Christopher S. Foote Professor of Chemistry as well as holding the Irving and Jean Stone Chair in Physical Sciences.
In 2012, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he is now the James and Neeltje Tretter Professor of Chemistry. He was the director of the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2012 through 2013. He is the Founding Director of the Berkeley Global Science Institute. He is also a co-director of the Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the California Research Alliance by BASF, as well as the Bakar Institute of Digital Materials for the Planet.
Research.
Reticular chemistry.
Yaghi pioneered reticular chemistry, a new field of chemistry concerned with stitching molecular building blocks together by strong bonds to make open frameworks. As stated by the International Balzan Prize Foundation, Omar Yaghi suggested the idea of using molecular building blocks and strong bonds to form crystalline materials in the early 1990s. At the time, the scientific community considered this idea chemically unfeasible, as the synthesis of strong bonding between molecular components usually led to poorly defined, amorphous solids. However, in 1995, Yaghi successfully crystallized metal-organic structures where metal ions are joined by charged organic linkers as exemplified by carboxylates to form strong bonds. This discovery paved the way for the development of a new class of materials: Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), and thus it marked the start of reticular chemistry.
Metal-organic frameworks.
His most recognizable work is in the design, synthesis, application, and popularisation of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). By IUPAC recommendation, MOF is considered a subclass of the coordination polymers first reported in 1959 by Yoshihiko Saito and colleagues. This is followed by E. A. Tomic in 1965 when he published a report titled "Thermal stability of coordination polymers" where he synthesized and characterized many coordination polymers constructed with different ligands and various metal ions. Hans-Peter Werner and colleagues in 1986 published a coordination polymer 2,5-Dimethyl-N,N′-dicyanoquinonediimine and evaluated its electrical conductivity, and in 1989 Bernard Hoskins and Richard Robson reported a coordination polymer consisting of three dimensionally linked rod-like segments. In general, coordination polymers are frail disordered structures with poorly defined properties.
In the 1990s, Omar M. Yaghi made three breakthroughs that transformed the traditional coordination polymers into architecturally robust and permanently porous MOFs which are being widely used today: (1) crystallization of metal-organic structures where metal ions are joined by charged organic linkers as exemplified by carboxylates to form strong bonds (published in 1995); (2) introduction of metal-carboxylate clusters as secondary building units (SBUs), which was the key to building architecturally robust frameworks exhibiting permanent porosity as he proved by measuring for the first time their gas adsorption isotherms (published in 1998); (3) realization of ultra-high porosity with MOF-5 (published in 1999). In essence, the strong bonds holding the MOFs allow for their structural robustness, ultra-high porosity, and longevity in industrial applications.
Covalent organic frameworks.
Omar M. Yaghi published the first paper of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in 2005, reporting a series of 2D COFs. He reported the design and successful synthesis of COFs by condensation reactions of phenyl diboronic acid (C6H4[B(OH)2]2) and hexahydroxytriphenylene (C18H6(OH)6). Powder X-ray diffraction studies of the highly crystalline products having empirical formulas (C3H2BO)6·(C9H12)1 (COF-1) and C9H4BO2 (COF-5) revealed 2-dimensional expanded porous graphitic layers that have either staggered conformation (COF-1) or eclipsed conformation (COF-5). Their crystal structures are entirely held by strong bonds between B, C, and O atoms to form rigid porous architectures with pore sizes ranging from 7 to 27 angstroms. COF-1 and COF-5 exhibit high thermal stability (to temperatures up to 500 to 600 °C), permanent porosity, and high surface areas (711 and 1590 square meters per gram, respectively). The synthesis of 3D COFs has been hindered by longstanding practical and conceptual challenges until it was first achieved in 2007 by Omar M. Yaghi.
Yaghi is also known for the design and production of a new class of compounds known as zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs). MOFs, COFs, ZIFs are noted for their extremely high surface areas ( for MOF-177) and very low crystalline densities ( for COF-108).
Molecular weaving.
Yaghi also pioneered molecular weaving, and synthesized the world's first material woven at the atomic and molecular levels (COF-505).
He has been leading the effort in applying these materials in clean energy technologies including hydrogen and methane storage, carbon dioxide capture and storage, as well as harvesting water from desert air.
According to a Thomson Reuters analysis, Yaghi was the second most cited chemist in the world from 2000 to 2010.
Entrepreneurship.
In 2020, Yaghi founded Atoco, a California-based startup, aiming to commercialize the latest advancements and discoveries by Yaghi in MOFs and COFs technologies in the field of carbon capture and atmospheric water harvesting.
In 2021, Yaghi co-founded another startup called H2MOF, dedicated to solving the challenges associated with hydrogen storage by utilizing the latest discoveries by Yaghi in the field of reticular chemistry.
Honors and awards.
Yaghi has received several global awards and medals throughout his career, including the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in 2017; the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2018; the Gregory Aminoff Prize in 2019; the VinFuture Prize in 2022, and the Science for the Future Ernest Solvay Prize in 2024. The following are among the key awards, medals and recognitions Yaghi received:
References.
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