diff --git a/molpipeline/abstract_pipeline_elements/mol2mol/filter.py b/molpipeline/abstract_pipeline_elements/mol2mol/filter.py
index 4142efde..b19cdb5b 100644
--- a/molpipeline/abstract_pipeline_elements/mol2mol/filter.py
+++ b/molpipeline/abstract_pipeline_elements/mol2mol/filter.py
@@ -318,6 +318,11 @@ def patterns_mol_dict(self, patterns: Sequence[str]) -> None:
             List of patterns.
         """
         self._patterns_mol_dict = {pat: self._pattern_to_mol(pat) for pat in patterns}
+        failed_patterns = [
+            pat for pat, mol in self._patterns_mol_dict.items() if not mol
+        ]
+        if failed_patterns:
+            raise ValueError("Invalid pattern(s): " + ", ".join(failed_patterns))
 
     @abc.abstractmethod
     def _pattern_to_mol(self, pattern: str) -> RDKitMol:
diff --git a/tests/test_elements/test_mol2mol/test_mol2mol_filter.py b/tests/test_elements/test_mol2mol/test_mol2mol_filter.py
index d814c4e9..ca0f9dd5 100644
--- a/tests/test_elements/test_mol2mol/test_mol2mol_filter.py
+++ b/tests/test_elements/test_mol2mol/test_mol2mol_filter.py
@@ -173,6 +173,22 @@ def test_smarts_smiles_filter(self) -> None:
                 filtered_smiles = pipeline.fit_transform(SMILES_LIST)
                 self.assertEqual(filtered_smiles, test_params["result"])
 
+    def test_smarts_smiles_filter_wrong_pattern(self) -> None:
+        """Test if molecules are filtered correctly by allowed SMARTS patterns."""
+        smarts_pats: dict[str, IntOrIntCountRange] = {
+            "cIOnk": (4, None),
+            "cC": 1,
+        }
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            SmartsFilter(smarts_pats)
+
+        smiles_pats: dict[str, IntOrIntCountRange] = {
+            "cC": (1, None),
+            "Cl": 1,
+        }
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            SmilesFilter(smiles_pats)
+
     def test_smarts_filter_parallel(self) -> None:
         """Test if molecules are filtered correctly by allowed SMARTS patterns in parallel."""
         smarts_pats: dict[str, IntOrIntCountRange] = {