Omar M. Yaghi is widely recognized for his pioneering work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs). He has shown that these materials have ultra-high porosity, making them useful for hydrogen storage, methane storage, carbon capture and fuel conversion, water harvesting (from desert air), catalysis, and other applications. The building block approach he developed has led to an exponential growth in the design and synthesis of new materials with a diversity and multiplicity previously unknown in chemistry. He has dubbed this field ‘Reticular Chemistry’ and defines it as ‘the stitching together of molecular building blocks into extended structures through strong bonds’. He has published more than 300 papers on MOFs and COFs, with a total of more than 202,000 citations (Google Scholar). He has an h-index of 175 (Google Scholar) and is ranked as the second most influential chemist in the world (Top 100 Chemists, Thomson Reuters, 2011).
