The Kharkiv Chemical Seminar, initiated by the Institute of Chemistry of Functional Materials of the Scientific and Technological Complex "Institute of Monocrystals" of the NAS of Ukraine, continues to follow the current topic of metal-organic frameworks (for research on which the Nobel Prize was awarded in 2025) and invites all interested parties to the next lecture.
The event will take place on May 12, 2026, at 15:00 (Kyiv) in an online format on the Zoom platform.
Lecturer: Professor Lars Öhrström (Prof. Lars Öhrström), a Swedish chemist, professor of inorganic chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology (Gothenburg, Sweden), where he also heads the graduate program in chemistry. His scientific research focuses on inorganic chemistry, structural chemistry, and particularly on metal-organic frameworks. For 20 years, he worked at the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), including 10 years as vice-president and president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division, and led the IUPAC working group that developed terminology for metal-organic framework structures and coordination polymers.
Lecture topic: "Metal-Organic Frameworks – Where are we going after the Nobel prize?" Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are one of the fastest-growing classes of functional materials, combining fundamental coordination chemistry, crystallography, and practical applications. The lecture offers a personal and historical perspective on the development of MOFs. It traces the origin of MOFs from early coordination polymers and underestimated compounds of the 19th and 20th centuries to their modern establishment as tunable porous materials of industrial significance. Key conceptual achievements are presented, including reticular chemistry, the concept of secondary building units, gas sorption analysis, and network topology, which are considered fundamental tools enabling the rational design of MOFs.
The lecture will cover the current state of the MOF field, with special attention to the transition from academic interest to commercialization. Examples will be given, including carbon dioxide capture, water harvesting, as well as new application areas such as SF₆ emission reduction and mechanically bactericidal surfaces. Particular focus will be on how subtle features of coordination chemistry – metal-ligand interactions, thermodynamics versus kinetics, framework stability, and linker flexibility – determine structure formation and functionality. To illustrate the growing complexity and versatility of MOF chemistry, complex topics such as framework isomerism, breathing behavior, negative Poisson's ratios, flexible network topologies, post-synthetic modification, amorphous MOFs, and others will be discussed.
The lecturer will also present prospects for further development, including multicomponent and high-entropy MOFs, data-driven discovery using machine learning, expansion of applications beyond crystalline materials, and the growing role of sustainability principles and green chemistry. Overall, the lecture emphasizes that MOFs are a rapidly developing field where a deep understanding of chemical processes remains critically important for addressing global challenges in energy, environment, and materials science.
Meeting ID: 459 004 2894
Passcode: Ch24022022
Event coordinator: Academician of the NAS of Ukraine Valentyn Chebanov (chebanov@gmail.com; info@isc.kh.ua).
Videos of all Kharkiv Chemical Seminar lectures, as well as detailed information about the meetings, can be found at this link.
The seminar language is English.
Brief about the event:
In April 2022, scientists of the Institute of Chemistry of Functional Materials of the Scientific and Technological Complex "Institute of Monocrystals" of the NAS of Ukraine launched and made available to a wide audience the Kharkiv Chemical Seminar, where leading scientists from around the world give reports and lectures. Since then, the Kharkiv Chemical Seminar has become well-known and prominent among scientists, graduate students, and students (even schoolchildren attended lectures) both in Ukraine and worldwide, and information about it can be found on the websites of leading scientific centers and on the pages of scientific publications. More than 50 seminar meetings have been held, with attendance exceeding 40,000 (both directly at the meetings and via the corresponding YouTube channel). Notably, Nobel laureates Jean-Marie Lehn, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Richard Roberts, Kurt Wüthrich, Dan Shechtman, Roald Hoffmann, Ferenc Krausz, Omar Yaghi, as well as leading scientists from France, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, Canada, the Czech Republic, and other countries, including scientists with Hirsch indices over 100 and even 200, such as Eric Carreira, Phil Baran, Yuriy Gogotsi, Thomas Ebessen, Oliver Kappe, and many others, have delivered lectures at the seminar.
According to information from the Scientific and Technological Complex "Institute of Monocrystals" of the NAS of Ukraine