Richard Robson (chemist)

Richard Robson FAA FRS (born 4 June 1937) is an English and Australian chemist and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne.^[2] Robson specialises in coordination polymers, particularly metal-organic frameworks.^[3] He has been described as "a pioneer in crystal engineering involving transition metals."^[4][5] In 2025, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Susumu Kitagawa and Omar M. Yaghi for the development of metal-organic frameworks.^[6]

Richard Robson FAA FRS
Born	(1937-06-04) 4 June 1937 (age 88) Glusburn, England, UK
Nationality	English, Australian
Education	Brasenose College, Oxford (BA, DPhil)
Known for	Coordination polymers Metal-organic frameworks
Awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2025)
Scientific career
Fields	Inorganic chemistry
Institutions	University of Melbourne
Thesis	Some Studies on the Ultraviolet Irradiation of Charge-Transfer Complexes and Related Systems[1]
Website	findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/15996-richard-robson

Early life and education

Robson was born in Glusburn, West Yorkshire (now North Yorkshire), England, on 4 June 1937.^[7][8] He read chemistry at Brasenose College, Oxford,^[9] earning a BA in 1959 and a DPhil in 1962.^[10][7] His doctoral research, supervised by J.A. Barltrop at the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, focused on the photochemistry of organic molecules.^[11][12]

He conducted postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology (1962–64) and Stanford University (1964–65) before accepting a lectureship in chemistry at the University of Melbourne in 1966, where he remained for the rest of his career.^[10]

Research

Richard Robson's groundbreaking research established foundational principles in the field of coordination polymers, particularly for infinite polymeric frameworks—later termed metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).^[3][13] His interest in the field was sparked in 1974 while constructing large wooden models of crystalline structures for first-year chemistry lectures.^[14]

In the 1990s, Robson created a new class of coordination polymers that underpinned an entire modern field of chemistry.^[15] His innovative approach used copper(I), which favours a tetrahedral geometry, in combination with a custom-designed tetranitrile organic linker.^[15] This method produced crystalline scaffolds with a diamond-like structure but with significant, engineered void space within the framework.^[15]

Honors and awards

Robson received the Burrows Award from the Inorganic Division of The Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1998 and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2000.^[16] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2022.^[17]

Robson shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his early contribution to the field of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs).

Selected publications

• Hoskins, Bernard F.; Robson, Richard (1989). "Infinite polymeric frameworks consisting of three dimensionally linked rod-like segments". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 111 (15): 5962–5964. Bibcode:1989JAChS.111.5962H. doi:10.1021/ja00197a079. ISSN 0002-7863. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
• Hoskins, B. F.; Robson, Richard (1990). "Design and construction of a new class of scaffolding-like materials comprising infinite polymeric frameworks of 3D-linked molecular rods. A reappraisal of the zinc cyanide and cadmium cyanide structures and the synthesis and structure of the diamond-related frameworks [N(CH3)4][CuIZnII(CN)4] and CuI[4,4',4,4'-tetracyanotetraphenylmethane]BF4.xC6H5NO2". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 112 (4): 1546–1554. Bibcode:1990JAChS.112.1546H. doi:10.1021/ja00160a038. ISSN 0002-7863. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
• Batten, Stuart R.; Robson, Richard (19 June 1998). "Interpenetrating Nets: Ordered, Periodic Entanglement". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 37 (11): 1460–1494. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1521-3773(19980619)37:11<1460::AID-ANIE1460>3.0.CO;2-Z. Retrieved 8 October 2025.