DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/27/2025 has been entered.
Election/Restrictions
As discussed in the previous Office Action, the examinable species was expanded to species A, wherein GD is
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and GA is selected from the groups consisting of (i) A1-A11 and (xii) B13-B20.
However, this elected species is not anticipated or obvious over the prior art. Accordingly, the search was expanded to cover all nonelected species.
Status of Claims
Claims 1, 15-16, and 18-20 are amended due to Applicant's amendment dated 10/27/2025. Claims 1-6 and 8-21 are pending.
Response to Amendment
The rejection of claims 1-6, 9-13, and 15-21 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hatakeyama (US 2015/0236274 A1) in view of Iwakuma (US 2004/0086745 A1) is overcome due to the Applicant’s amendment dated 10/27/2025. The rejection is withdrawn.
The rejection of claims 8 and 14 under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hatakeyama in view of Iwakuma and Chen (Chen, Dongcheng, Shi-Jian Su, and Yong Cao. “Nitrogen heterocycle-containing materials for highly efficient phosphorescent OLEDs with low operating voltage.” Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2.45 (2014): 9565-9578) is withdrawn due to reconsideration of the original grounds of rejection.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on pages 23-25 of the reply dated 10/27/2025 with respect to the rejection of claims 1-6 and 8-21 as set forth in the previous Office Action have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection has been withdrawn.
In particular, Applicant argues the cited references fail to teach the claims as amended which require in which one GA is a pyrimidine which bonds to a GD having the structure
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. For this reason, Applicant’s arguments are persuasive.
However, as outlined below, new grounds of rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) have been made.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities:
For ease of reading, it is recommended in claim 19 to replace “said the triazine” with “the said triazine”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-6 and 8-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
In the amendment dated 03/06/2024, claims 1, 15, and 20 were amended to recite “exactly one of the acceptor groups GA comprises a boron atom”. The instant specification provides support for wherein each acceptor group GA independently comprises at least one moiety selected from the group consisting of nitrile, isonitrile, fluoride, borane, etc. (instant ¶ [0069]). The instant specification further defines the term “borane” as a -B(Rs)2 radical or its Lewis adduct -B(Rs)2 radical (instant ¶ [0041]). That is, a borane moiety is not the same as a boron atom. The instant specification also provides support for wherein the acceptor group GA may be selected from groups of B10 to B32, each of which include a boron atom (instant ¶ [0079]). Accordingly, while there is support for wherein the acceptor group GA comprises a borane moiety and wherein the acceptor group GA is selected from groups of B10 to B32, there is not sufficient support for the full scope of wherein the acceptor group GA comprises a boron atom. For this reason, claims 1, 15, and 20 are considered to have new matter.
In the amendment dated 06/28/2024, claims 1, 15, and 20 were amended to recite “if an acceptor group GA is pyrimidine or triazine, said pyrimidine or triazine directly bonds to three separate aromatic rings at a carbon atom of said three separate aromatic rings”. The instant specification provides support for a compound comprising an acceptor group GA that is pyrimidine or triazine, wherein the pyrimidine or triazine directly bonds to carbon atoms of three separate aromatic rings selected from the group consisting of phenyl, carbazole, indolocarbazole, or
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(see at least compounds A63, A80, B47, and B50 in instant ¶ [0081]). However, there does not seem to be sufficient support for the full scope of wherein an acceptor group GA of pyrimidine or triazine directly bonds to carbon atoms of any three aromatic rings. For this reason, claims 1, 15, and 20 are considered to have new matter.
In the amendment dated 04/11/2025, claims 1, 15, and 20 were amended to recite at least one of conditions i), ii), and iii) is true, wherein condition ii) recites “a GD directly bonded to the GA comprising the boron atom has five fused rings”. Likewise, claim 18 is amended to recite “wherein a GD directly bonded to the GA comprising the boron atom has five fused rings”. The instant specification recites GD may comprise at least one moiety of
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, and further recites GD may be selected from groups of D19 to D54, which each include five fused rings (instant ¶ [0070] and [0078]). Additionally, instant compounds B47 to B49, B51, B52, B65, and B71 provide support for the structure wherein a GD comprising a moiety of
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or a group of D30, D33, D36, D45, D48, and D54 is directly bonded to a GA comprising a borane moiety or a group of B13 or B21 (instant ¶ [0081]). However, there is not sufficient support for the full scope of a GD comprising any five fused rings is directly bonded to a GA comprising a borane moiety. For this reason, claims 1, 15, and 20 are considered to have new matter.
Claims 2-6, 8-14, 16-19, and 21 are further rejected for being dependent upon claims 1 and 15.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRAELYN R WATSON whose telephone number is (571)272-1822. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30am-5pm.
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/BRAELYN R WATSON/Examiner, Art Unit 1786