A U.S. patent application for 'Molecular sieve adsorbents' listing Flanigen as co-inventor was published, documenting her pioneering molecular sieve research.
On March 22, 1961, a U.S. patent application titled "Molecular sieve adsorbents" was published, listing Edith M. Flanigen as a co-inventor. This filing represented an early and critical milestone in her decades-long career developing synthetic zeolite materials at Union Carbide Corporation.
Molecular sieves are crystalline materials with uniform, microscopic pores that can selectively adsorb molecules based on size and shape. Flanigen's contributions to this technology would prove foundational to industries ranging from petroleum refining to water purification and gas separation. The publication of this application documented her rapidly growing expertise in silicate and aluminosilicate chemistry only a few years into her tenure at Union Carbide, which she had joined in 1952.
At a time when few women held research positions in industrial chemistry, let alone were named as inventors on foundational patents, Flanigen's inclusion on this filing was itself notable. The molecular sieve technology described in this and related patents would go on to underpin some of the most economically significant catalytic processes of the twentieth century, including fluid catalytic cracking used throughout the oil refining industry. This early patent application set the stage for the eventual grant of the patent in 1967 and represented the first documented steps toward what would become one of her signature scientific legacies.