Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 17/611,418

ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING MATERIAL CONTAINING TETRAPHENYLBENZENE, PREPARATION,AND APPLICATION

Non-Final OA §102§103§112
Filed
Jul 17, 2024
Priority
May 14, 2019 — CN 201910396951.8 +1 more
Examiner
WILCZEWSKI, MARY A
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
South China University of Technology
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
85%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
5m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 85% — above average
85%
Career Allowance Rate
712 granted / 839 resolved
+24.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.2%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 7m
Avg Prosecution
38 currently pending
Career history
870
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.6%
-39.4% vs TC avg
§103
44.5%
+4.5% vs TC avg
§102
24.1%
-15.9% vs TC avg
§112
21.7%
-18.3% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 839 resolved cases

Office Action

§102 §103 §112
DETAILED ACTION This Office action is in response to the Preliminary Amendment filed on 14 December 2021. Claims 1-5 have been cancelled. Claims 6-11 are newly submitted. 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 . Specification The substitute specification filed 14 December 2021 has not been entered because it does not conform to 37 CFR 1.125(b) and (c) because: a marked-up copy of the substitute specification has not been supplied (in addition to the clean copy). Although a copy of the specification titled “MARKED-UP SPECIFICATION” was submitted on 14 December 2021 with the substitute specification, it appears to be identical to the substitute specification, since the marked-up copy of the substitute specification does not show any of the changes relative to the immediate prior version of the specification of record. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. Claim 7 is 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Dependent claim 7 requires “the alkyl chain refers to a straight chain, a branched chain or a cyclic alkyl chain that has 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkyl chain of which one or more carbon atoms are substituted with an oxygen atom, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aryl group, a carbonyl group, a hydroxyl group, an amino group, a carboxyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group or an ester group, or an alkyl chain of which one or more hydrogen atoms are substituted with a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom or an iodine atom”. However, it is unclear if this is for R’ or R” or both R’ and R”.. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Li, WO 2019/218360. With respect to claim 6, Li disclose a tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light emitting material, shown on page 1, having a structural formula as Formula I: PNG media_image1.png 175 575 media_image1.png Greyscale the R1 is PNG media_image2.png 112 194 media_image2.png Greyscale where R’ is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position, and the R2 is PNG media_image3.png 84 172 media_image3.png Greyscale where R” is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a cyano group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position, see pages 1 and 2. With respect to claim 7, in the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic material of Li, according to claim 6, characterized in that the alkyl chain refers to a straight chain, a branched chain or a cyclic alkyl chain that has 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkyl chain of which one or more carbon atoms are substituted with an oxygen atom, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aryl group, a carbonyl group, a hydroxyl group, an amino group, a carboxyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group or an ester group, or an alkyl chain of which one or more hydrogen atoms are substituted with a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom or an iodine atom, see pages 1 and 2 of Li. With respect to claim 8, Li discloses in the Summary of the Invention (and pages 1-16) a preparation method of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light-emitting material according to claim 6, comprising the following steps: using 1,4-dibromo-2,5-terphenyl and R2-substituted phenylboronic acid as raw materials, obtaining an R2-containing aromatic ring compound through a Suzuki reaction; and then reacting the R2-containing aromatic ring compound with Ri- substituted phenylboronic acid or boronic acid ester in the presence of a tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium catalyst to obtain the tetraphenylbenzene- containing organic light-emitting material, and the above preparation method having a reaction formula as follows: PNG media_image4.png 136 678 media_image4.png Greyscale With respect to claim 9, Li discloses in the Summary of the Invention (and pages 1-16) a preparation method of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light-emitting material according to claim 7, comprising the following steps: using 1,4-dibromo-2,5-terphenyl and R2-substituted phenylboronic acid as raw materials, obtaining an R2-containing aromatic ring compound through a Suzuki reaction; and then reacting the R2-containing aromatic ring compound with Ri- substituted phenylboronic acid or boronic acid ester in the presence of a tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium catalyst to obtain the tetraphenylbenzene- containing organic light-emitting material, and the above preparation method having a reaction formula as follows: PNG media_image5.png 158 636 media_image5.png Greyscale With respect to claim 10, Li discloses an application of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light- emitting material according to claim 6 in organic light-emitting devices, see Background techniques in the translation.. With respect to claim 11, Li discloses an application of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light- emitting material according to claim 7 in organic light-emitting devices, see Background techniques in the translation.. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al., CN 104844475, cited by Applicant on the Information Disclosure Statement submitted on 15 November 2021. With respect to claim 6, Li et al. disclose a tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light emitting (fluorescent) material, shown in paragraph [0007]-[0009], having a structural formula as Formula I: PNG media_image1.png 175 575 media_image1.png Greyscale the R1 is PNG media_image2.png 112 194 media_image2.png Greyscale where R’ is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position, and the R2 is PNG media_image3.png 84 172 media_image3.png Greyscale where R” is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a cyano group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position, see paragraphs [0007]-[0009]. In the provided translation, in paragraph [0009], Li et al. disclose a derivative of tetraphenylbenzene-based diphenylamino and dicyanovinyl substituted derivatives of Formula (I): PNG media_image6.png 142 505 media_image6.png Greyscale where R is can be PNG media_image7.png 150 305 media_image7.png Greyscale Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that that R’ is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position and that R” is a hydrogen atom, a methoxy group, a cyano group, a fluorine atom or an alkyl chain, n is a natural number from 1 to 10, and * is a substitutional position. Accordingly, the components disclosed by Li et al. would yield Applicant’s claimed tetraphenyl benzene-containing material shown in Example 1. With respect to claim 7, in the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic material of Li et al., according to claim 6, characterized in that the alkyl chain refers to a straight chain, a branched chain or a cyclic alkyl chain that has 1 to 20 carbon atoms, or an alkyl chain of which one or more carbon atoms are substituted with an oxygen atom, an alkenyl group, an alkynyl group, an aryl group, a carbonyl group, a hydroxyl group, an amino group, a carboxyl group, a cyano group, a nitro group or an ester group, or an alkyl chain of which one or more hydrogen atoms are substituted with a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom, a bromine atom or an iodine atom, see paragraphs [0007]-[0025] of Li et al. With respect to claim 8, Li et al. disclose a preparation method of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light-emitting material according to claim 6, comprising the following steps: using 1,4-dibromo-2,5-terphenyl and R2-substituted phenylboronic acid as raw materials, obtaining an R2-containing aromatic ring compound through a Suzuki reaction; and then reacting the R2-containing aromatic ring compound with Ri- substituted phenylboronic acid or boronic acid ester in the presence of a tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium catalyst to obtain the tetraphenylbenzene- containing organic light-emitting material, and the above preparation method having a reaction formula as follows: PNG media_image4.png 136 678 media_image4.png Greyscale Li et al. discloses after a Suzuki reaction, intermediate products 1, 2, and 3 are prepared in sequence and the structural formula is shown in the following formulas (II)-(IV): PNG media_image8.png 114 572 media_image8.png Greyscale using tetrakis (triphenylphosphine) palladium as a catalyst, see paragraphs [0020]-[0036] of the Translation. With respect to claim 9, Li et al. disclose a preparation method of the tetraphenylbenzene-containing organic light-emitting material according to claim 7, comprising the following steps: using 1,4-dibromo-2,5-terphenyl and R2-substituted phenylboronic acid as raw materials, obtaining an R2-containing aromatic ring compound through a Suzuki reaction; and then reacting the R2-containing aromatic ring compound with Ri- substituted phenylboronic acid or boronic acid ester in the presence of a tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium catalyst to obtain the tetraphenylbenzene- containing organic light-emitting material, and the above preparation method having a reaction formula as follows: PNG media_image5.png 158 636 media_image5.png Greyscale Li et al. discloses after a Suzuki reaction, intermediate products 1, 2, and 3 are prepared in sequence and the structural formula is shown in the following formulas (II)-(IV): PNG media_image8.png 114 572 media_image8.png Greyscale using tetrakis (triphenylphosphine) palladium as a catalyst, see paragraphs [0020]-[0036] of the Translation. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARY A WILCZEWSKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1849. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 7:30 AM-5:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jessica Manno can be reached at 571-272-2339. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. MARY A. WILCZEWSKI Primary Examiner Art Unit 2898 /MARY A WILCZEWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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Prosecution Timeline

Jul 17, 2024
Application Filed
May 15, 2024
Response after Non-Final Action
Aug 19, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102, §103, §112 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
85%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+10.2%)
2y 7m (~5m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 839 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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