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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 1-10 are pending. Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 5-10 in the reply filed on April 6, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1-4 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 5-10 are objected to because of the following informalities: the claims should remove the colons after the term wherein. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 5 should be amended to contain the limitations of claim 1 from which it depends since it is an independent claim being examined separately from the invention of claim 1. For clarity the examiner suggests when incorporating these limitations into claim 5, applicant recite “covalent grafting fluoropolymer attached by carbene polymerization to the surface of the fabric”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 6 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 6 should be amended to remove the semicolon in line 2 and recite “3-15 and the grafting site”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 7 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 7 should be amended to remove the semicolon in line 3 and recite “ethanol, and the carbene”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 8 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 8 should be amended to recite “wherein the method further comprises the steps of reacting a fluoroalkyl alcohol with bromoacetyl bromide to obtain fluoroalkyl bromoacetate, then reacting the fluoroalkyl bromoacetate with N,N”-dimethylbenzylsulfonyl hydrazide to obtain the fluoroalkyl diazoacetate and acylating the fabric an then reacting the fabric N,N”-dimethylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazide to prepare the active fabric”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim 9 is objected to because of the following informalities: claim 9 should be amended to remove the semicolon in line 3 and recite “alkali, and the reaction”. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 5-10 are 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.
Claim 5 recites the limitations “the fluoroalkyl diazoacetate” in lines 2-3, “the active fabric” in line 3 and “the fiber” in line 4. These are all the first occurrence of the terms and should be recited as “a” or “an” not as “the”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Similarly, when amended as indicated by the claim objection in paragraph 3, "the water repellent" in line 1 of claim 5, will be the first occurrence of the term and should also be recited as “a water-repellent fabric”.
The examiner suggests applicant amend claim 5 to recite ”A preparation method of a water-repellent fabric, wherein the water-repellent fabric comprises a fabric and a covalent grafting fluoropolymer attached by carbene polymerization to a surface the fabric, wherein the method comprises the following steps: under the action of a catalyst, placing a fluoroalkyl diazoacetate and an active fabric in an organic solvent, covalently grafting the fluoropolymer to the fabric surface by carbene polymerization to obtain the water-repellent fabric and wherein the active fabric is a fabric containing a grafting site.” Claims 6-10 are also rejected for being dependent upon claim 5 and inheriting the same deficiency.
Claim 8 recites the limitations “the fluoroalkyl alcohol” in line 2. This is the first occurrence of the term and should be recited as “a” not as “the”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 5-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Stokes (US 2013/0022876) in view of Shimomoto (Fluorinated Poly(substituted methylene)s Prepared by Pd-Initiated Polymerization of Fluorine-containing Alkyl and Phenyl Diazoacetates: Their Unique Solubility and Postpolymerization Modification. Macromolecules, 2018, 51, 328-335).
Stokes teaches preparing water-repellent fabrics by surface modifying polyolefins textiles (paragraph 0042) with chemical modifiers including fluorinated compounds applied by carbene reactions in the presence of a catalyst (paragraph 0059) to improve the durability of the waterproofness (paragraph 0018,0034). Stokes teaches perfluoro group modifications can impart superhydrophobicity to the fabric (paragraph 0067) and covalent grafting (paragraph 0011,0029).. Stokes teaches carbene intermediates being formed through thermolysis or photolysis of diazo compounds (paragraph 0061). Stokes teaches fabrics which have carbonyl groups (acylated) such as acrylates.
Stokes does not specify fluoroalkyl diazoacetate grafted on an active fabric.
Shimomoto teaches fluoroalkyl diazoacetates are prepared by reacting a fluoroalkyl alcohol with bromoacetyl bromide in the presence of NaHCo3 (alkali) to obtain fluoroalkyl bromoacetate and then the fluoroalkyl bromoacetate reacts with N,N’-ditosyl hydrazine (N,N’-dimethylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazide) in the presence of DBU (organic binding agent) to obtain fluoroalkyl diazoacetate wherein the fluorine atom number of the fluoroalkyl is 4 (page 329, Scheme 3B). Shimomoto teaches the catalyst is palladium chloride, the organic solvent is tetrahydrofuran (page 330, left column).The feeding of the reactants would cause mixing and meet the limitation of oscillation or stirring.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the methods of water -repellent fabric preparation of Stokes by reacting fluoroalkyl diazoacetate in the presence of a catalyst and organic solvent to covalently graft the fluoropolymer to the fiber surface by carbene polymerization because Shimomoto teaches fluoroalkyl diazoacetates prepared by similar reactions are grafted through covalent bonding to the claimed polymers for the benefit of modifying the surface properties. Applying known fluoropolymers to similar substrates for the benefit of modifying the surface properties of the fabric are obvious and Stokes invites the inclusion of using fluoropolymers to add superhydrophobic and durable water repellency to the fabric, Shimomoto teaches the claimed method of fluoroalkyl diazoacetate preparation by reacting fluoroalcohols with bromoacetyl bromides to produce fluoroalkyl bromoacetate which is then reacted with N,N’-dimethylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazide to obtain a fluoroalkyl diazoacetate. Stokes teaches similar fabrics with acyl groups which by the teachings of Shimomoto can be acylated and reacted with N,N’-dimethylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazide if the reactants of Shimomoto are reacted in the presence of the fabric. Using known fluoropolymers effective for modifying the surface of similar polymers by similar polymerization methods is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to arrive at a polymer with modified surface properties and covalent grafting of the modifier. The feeding of the reactants into the reaction vessel would cause agitation and mixing which meets the claimed limitation of stirring or oscillation. Further it would be obvious to stir the reactions together for a more uniform mixture and complete reaction.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMINA S KHAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5573. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5:30pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at 571-272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/AMINA S KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
