ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,304,919, issued on May 20, was assigned to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.).

"Metal-organic chalcogenolates" was invented by William A. Tisdale (Belmont, Mass.), Watcharaphol Paritmongkol (Boston) and Tomoaki Sakurada (Cambridge, Mass.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A metal-organic chalcogenolate (MOC) includes silver phenylselenolate functionalized with at least one functional group. The functional group may be methyl (CH3), dimethylamine (N(CH3)2), thiomethyl (SCH3), fluoro (F) trifluoromethyl (CF3), cyanide (CN), carboxy (COOH), nitrito (NO2), or alkoxy (OCxHy). The MOC can be in the form of a single crystal co...