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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicants amendments, filed on 5/5/26, have been fully considered but they do not confer patentability on all of the instantly filed claims. Applicants have amended the claims so to overcome the claim objections and 112 rejections rejection. Applicants have amended independent claim 18 to include six provisos regarding the compound of formula (I). The prior art rejection to Kuwabara et al. (US 2021/0273165). The compounds taught and suggested by Kuwabara et al. does not include any of the structural requirements of the six conditions which have been added to independent claim 18. Further search has led to new prior art rejections, which are described below. Because these new rejections include the rejection of claims which were previously not rejected, this Office action is non-final.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to. The limitation “via a bridge by a single bond or a bridge” should be amended to “via a single bond or a bridge”.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 18, 19, 22, 24, 30, 31, 34, and 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shin et al. (US 2024/0122070). Shin et al. has a foreign application priority data of 10/10/19, which is prior to Applicants (unperfected) foreign priority date of 6/29/20 and qualifies as prior art under 102(a)(2). Additionally, all of the subject matter disclosed in US 2024/0122070 is taught in the foreign priority document.
Claim 18: Compound 82 of Shin et al., which has the structure
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(page15), anticipates formula (I) of claim 18. As applied to formula (I), compound 82 has Z1 equal to B, W2 equal to N, W1 is equal to CR with R equal to an unsubstituted phenyl group, Y is equal to N(Ar) with Ar equal to an unsubstituted phenyl group, and all X1-X4 equal to CH. This compound satisfies condition (2) of claim 18 as W2 is N.
Claim 19: Compound 82 above also anticipates Formula (IIe) of claim 19 with Z2 equal to N, R equal to phenyl, all X5 groups equal to CRe with all Re equal to hydrogen atoms, and all other variables being described in claim 18 above.
Claim 22: In compound 82 above, Z1 is B and Z2 is N, thereby anticipating claim 22.
Claim 24: Compound 82 above also anticipates Formula (IIIh) of claim 24 with p equal to zero, all Rs, Rb, Rc, and Rd equal to hydrogen atoms, and all other variables being described in claim 18 above.
Claim 30: It is submitted that in the preparation of compound 82, there would inherently be at least a crude reaction mixture comprising compound 82, which is a formulation satisfying claim 30.
Claims 31 and 34: The compounds taught by Shin et al., which includes compound 82 above, are employed as dopants in emission layers of organic electroluminescent devices. The incorporation of any one of the explicitly taught compounds of Shin et al. in the manner taught in the exemplified device examples, including compound 82, is at once envisaged. This includes preparing an emission layer which consists of compound 82 and the host material BH1. Such a device anticipates claims 31 and 34.
Claim 35: In compound 82, W2 is N, thereby anticipating claim 35.
Claims 18, 19, 22, 24, 28, 30, 31, 34, and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) against Schaeffer et al. (US 2023/0083303).
Claim 18: Compounds 38 and 39 of Schaeffer et al. as shown in Table 4 anticipate all of the structural limitation of formula (I) of claim 18. Using compound 39, which has the structure
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, has Z1 is equal to B, W2 is equal to a 2,6-dimethylphenyl group, W1 is equal to N, two adjacent X4 groups are equal to CRd with each Rd being joined to form a C6 carbocyclic ring [which satisfies condition (6) of claim 18], the other X4 group being equal to CH, X1 and X2 are equal to CH, Y is equal to N(Ar) with Ar equal to p-t--butylphenyl, and three X3 equal to CH and one X3 equal to a CRc with Rc equal to an unsubstituted carbazole group.
Claim 19: Compound 39 as shown above also anticipates Formula (IIa) of claim 19 with Z2 equal to N, four X5 groups equal to CH, and one X5 group equal to a t-butyl group.
Claim 22: In compound 39, Z1 is B and Z2 is N, thereby anticipating claim 22.
Claim 24: Compound 39 also anticipates Formula (IIIa) of claim 24 with p equal to zero, R equal to 2,6-dimethylphenyl, Rb equal to hydrogen, one Rc equal to a carbazole group and three Rc equal to hydrogen, two adjacent Rc groups forming a C6 carbocyclic ring, and the other Rc group being hydrogen, and all other variables being described in claim 18 above.
Claim 28: Compound 39 also anticipates Formula (VI-1) of claim 28 with an additional C6 carbocyclic ring being present on the ring which bears the Rd groups.
Claim 30: Paragraphs 1355 and 1356 of Schaefer et al. prepares compound 39, which necessarily includes preparing the crude reaction mixture, which is inherently a formulation comprising a compound of formula (I), thereby anticipating claim 30.
Claims 31 and 34: Application example 9 as shown in Table 4 is drawn to an electroluminescent device where the emission layer is comprised of a host material and compound 39, thereby anticipating claims 31 and 34.
Claim 39: Compound 39 of Schaeffer et al. anticipates the limitations of claim 39, which corresponds to requirement (6) of claim 18.
Claims 18, 19, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, 38, and 39 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Jeong et al. (KR-20210043415). Jeong et al. qualifies as prior art under 102(a)(1) as it was published before Applicants filing date of 6/25/21. However, Jeong et al. was published after Applicants foreign priority date of 6/29/20. Applicants can overcome this rejection by including subject matter not taught by Jeong et al. but otherwise claimed or by providing a certified English language translation of their foreign priority document EP-20182891.0. A machine translation of this document is included with this Office action.
Claim 18: Jeong et al. teaches many compounds which anticipate formula (I) of claim 1. This includes the compounds
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(page 50),
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(page 41), and
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(page 45). All of these compound have Z1 equal to B, one W1 and W2 equal to N, the other of W1 and W2e qual to CR with R equal to phenyl, t-butyl, or methyl, all X4 equal to CRd with Rd equal to hydrogen or t-butyl, all X1 equal to CH, X2 equal to CH or CRb with Rb equal to diphenylamine or a 9,10-dimethylacridine, Y is equal to O or N(Ar) with Ar equal to an unsubstituted phenyl group, and X3 is equal to CH or two adjacent X3 are joined together to form a ring. Collectively, the three compounds above satisfy conditions (2, the first compound above), (5, the second compound above) and (6, the third compound above).
Claim 19: The compounds above anticipate one of Formulae (IIa) and (IIe) as described above.
Claim 23: In the first two compounds above, Z1 is B and Z2 is N.
Claim 24: The second and third compounds above satisfy Formula (IIIa) with p equal to zero and the first compound satisfies Formula (IIIh) with p equal to zero.
Claim 26: The first and third compounds include a group of Formula RB with Y5 equal to O or N(Ph) and m equal to zero, which is fused to two adjacent CRc groups, thereby anticipating claim 26.
Claim 28: The third compound satisfies Formula (VI-1) which has at least one additional fused ring. The first compound satisfies Formula (VI-12) which has at least one additional fused ring.
Claim 30: It is submitted that preparing any one of the compounds shown above would inherently require preparing a crude reaction mixture which comprises said compounds, which qualifies as a formulation which anticipates claim 30.
Claims 31 and 34: Jeong et al. employs compound 18 whose structure is
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(page 85). This compound is a preferred compound which anticipates formula (I) of claim 18 and is taught and claimed to be employed as a dopant in an emission layer of an OLED where the emission layer further comprises a host material, thereby anticipating claims 31 and 34.
Claim 35: The first compound shown above satisfies the condition of claim 35.
Claim 38: The second compound shown above satisfies the condition of claim 38. Claim 39: The third compound shown above satisfies the condition of claim 39.
Allowable Subject Matter
While all claims stand rejected, claims 20, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 36, and 37 are free of any prior art rejections.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT S LOEWE whose telephone number is (571)270-3298. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday from 8 AM to 5 PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Robert S Loewe/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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