DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The amendment of claims 1, 6-8, 15, 17, 20 are supported by the specification.
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous Office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The new grounds of rejection set forth below are necessitated by applicant's amendment filed on 9/18/2025. Thus, the following action is properly made final.
Claim Objections
Claim 15 objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 1. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claims 7-8 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 7-8 recites “an alkyl based citrate”, “a hybrid citrate” etc.. It is unclear how those citrates relate to the citrates in the claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim 1, 6-8, 14-15, 17, 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al (KR20170020282) in view of Bohnen et al (US 2002/0198402) and evidenced by Encyclopedia (Falbe J et al; Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. NY, NY: John Wiley & Sons; Alcohols, Aliphatic. Online Posting Date: Jun 15, 2000.)
Kim teaches a plasticizer composition comprising compounds represented by the following formulas 2-7, R1 is isobutyl group, R2 is a branched or unbranched C6-C8 alkyl group [0050-0066]. One exemplary molar ratio of R1 alcohol : R2 alcohol is 4.05:5.68=42:58 [0167] (1000/528*3=5.68, 300/74=4.05). One exemplary BEHC is 253 [0168-0169].
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Kim does not teach n-heptanol is included in an amount of 50wt% or more.
However, Bohnen discloses a citrate plasticizer composition and teaches n-heptanol is a preferred C7 alcohol for preparing citrate [0012]..
Encyclopedia teaches 1-Heptanol's production and use as an intermediate in the manufacture of plasticizers (phthalates and adipates) and as solvents or solubilizers in the paint and printing ink industry and other sectors(1) may result in its release to the environment through various waste streams. Pure 1-heptanol has very little commercial value and is not used for these purposes but rather isomeric mixtures of C7 alcohols and C7-C11 alcohol mixtures. C7 alcohol isomers are either linear or branched. C7 alcohol isomers include 4-methyl hexanol and 5-methyl hexanol. As impurities, the content of isomer has to be less than 50 wt%.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to utilize isomeric mixture of C7 alcohol for citrate preparation because it is recognized in the art it is suitable for citrate plasticizer preparation and the mixture has more commercial value.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 9/18/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument, it is noted that the instant claims do not recite “C7 alcohol is 4-methyl hexanol or 5-methyl hexanol”, instead the claims recite ““C7 alcohol includes 4-methyl hexanol or 5-methyl hexanol”, even trace amount of 4-methyl hexanol or 5-methyl hexanol reads on the claims.
In response to applicant's argument that Kim fails to disclose the claimed molar ratio of C4 to C7, the argument is not persuasive because of the exemplary ratio of Kim, one skilled in the art would recognize such a ratio is suitable for butanol and C7 alcohol.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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/WENWEN CAI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763