[11][12][13] 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.

[21] 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);[23] (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);[24] (3) realization of ultra-high porosity with MOF-5 (published in 1999).

[25] In essence, the strong bonds holding the MOFs allow for their structural robustness, ultra-high porosity, and longevity in industrial applications.

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.

MOFs, COFs, ZIFs are noted for their extremely high surface areas (5640 m2/g for MOF-177)[30] and very low crystalline densities (0.17 g·cm−3 for COF-108).