The U.S. patent for 'Molecular sieve adsorbents,' co-invented by Flanigen, was officially issued, formalizing a foundational contribution to zeolite technology.
On February 28, 1967, the United States Patent and Trademark Office officially issued patent US 3,306,922, titled "Molecular sieve adsorbents," with Edith M. Flanigen listed as a co-inventor. This grant formalized years of research into synthetic zeolite materials capable of selectively adsorbing molecules based on precise pore geometries.
The granting of this patent represented the culmination of research first published in application form in 1961, and it stands as one of the cornerstone patents in Flanigen's portfolio of more than 100 U.S. patents accumulated over her career. Molecular sieves developed through this and related work became essential to petroleum refining processes, natural gas purification, and numerous industrial separation technologies.
The significance of this patent extends far beyond its immediate technical claims: it exemplifies the type of foundational materials science innovation that reshaped entire industries. Zeolite-based molecular sieves enabled more efficient and economical processing of hydrocarbons, contributing to advances in fuel production that had ripple effects across the global energy sector.
As a woman inventor credited on a major industrial patent during the 1960s, Flanigen's work on this and similar patents helped pave the way for greater recognition of women's contributions to applied chemistry, an area of science where formal recognition for women had historically been scarce.