Kitagawa’s main research field is inorganic and material chemistry, in particular, chemistry of coordination space, and his current research interests are centered on synthesis and properties of porous coordination polymers/metal-organic frameworks.

He was the first to discover and to demonstrate „porosity” for metal complexes with gas sorption experiments (1997), whose materials are called porous coordination polymers (PCPs) or metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). To date, MOFs are classified as a new category of porous materials, as opposed to the conventional classifications of inorganic and carbon materials. Kitagawa pioneered the functional chemistry of MOFs, and discovered flexible MOFs, dissimilar to those of conventional porous materials. Today several hundred different MOFs are known, and over 7,000 articles on this class of materials have been published annually worldwide. The research developments built on his discoveries are anticipated to lead to radical innovations in materials science, with wide-ranging implications for both academia and industry. Chemical industry firms are producing MOF materials for use in purification, storage, and transportation of gases, among other applications. Kitagawa’s achievement has blazed a trail to a new era for porous materials, vital to addressing energy and environmental issues and contributing to human welfare.

Dame Margaret is a Distinguished Professor and Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. She is an Executive Editor for Organic Letters, Past-President of IUPAC Organic and Biomolecular Division III and Past-President of the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry. She has published >700 papers and inventor on >50 patents.  She is a Fellow Royal Society London, Dame Companion New Zealand Order of Merit and inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. She was awarded the 2023 Davy Medal ( Royal Society London), Rutherford, Hector and MacDiarmid medals (Royal Society NZ), 2022 RSC Pedler Award for Organic Chemistry and 2023 ACS Ernest Guenther award for Natural Products Chemistry. She was named 2007 L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science laureate in Materials Science for Asia-Pacific and  a 2015 IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry.  

Margaret’s research focusses on the synthesis of novel bioactive natural products, and peptides, antibody-drug conjugates, peptide vaccines and new biomaterials. Her lab carried out the medicinal chemistry for the FDA approved-drug Trofinetide/ DaybueTM (NNZ2566) to treat Rett Syndrome (http://www.neurenpharma.com; https://acadia.com). Her team also carried out the medicinal chemistry that led to the discovery of the drug candidate Ercanetide (NNZ2591)  currently in phase 2/3 clinical trials for four neurogenetic disorders: Angelman syndrome, Pitt Hopkins syndrome, Phelan-McDermid syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome.