This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipients, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi, were awarded for their work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a truly chemical achievement.
According to Vanessa Seifert, their work on MOFs, which are highly porous materials capable of capturing and storing various molecules, is a great example of a chemical breakthrough.
Derek Lowe has said exactly the same elsewhere in Chemistry World.
Author's summary: MOFs win Nobel Prize in Chemistry.