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 .
This communication is responsive to the claim set and Response to Restriction requirement filed 11/14/2025. Claims 1-14 are pending. Elected claims 1-10 are under consideration in this Office Action.
Non-elected claims 11-14 are withdrawn.
Claims 1-10 are rejected for the reasons set forth below.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, Claims 1-10 in the reply filed on 11/14/2025 is acknowledged.
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 1-7 and 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a) (1) as being anticipated by Benvenutti et al. (Journal of Molecular Liquids 315 (2020) 113761).
Regarding Claim 1, Benvenutti teaches preparation of natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES). One of the NADES is a mixture of citric acid, glucose and water (ab.). citric acid is a carboxylic acid comprising three carboxylic acid functional groups. Glucose is a C6 compound having five -OH groups. Benvenutti further teaches the NADES has citric acid, glucose and water at 1:1:3 mol ratio (Table 1). Calculated, the water content of the NADES is 12.7 wt.%, falling within the claimed 10 to 50 wt.% of the total weight of the deep eutectic solvent.
Regarding Claims 2-5, citric acid has 6 carbon atoms and three carboxylic acid functional groups and is a saturated aliphatic carboxylic acid.
Regarding Claims 6 and 9, Benvenutti teaches the NADES can be synthesized from natural compounds and the purpose of the research was to use natural food ingredients as substitutes for synthetics additives (Introduction). Therefore, it can be reasonably inferred that one ordinary skilled artisan would use 100% biobased compounds.
Regarding Claims 7, glucose has 6 carbon atoms and five alcohol groups.
Regarding Claim 10, the NADES has citric acid : glucose at 1: 1 molar ratio, falling within the claimed 1:1 molar ratio.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 1-10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (KR102276980B1).
Regarding Claims 1-5 and 7-8, Lee teaches deep eutectic solvents made from naturally-derived compounds (ab.). Attention is drawn to Table 2, where Lee discloses that deep eutectic solvents comprising a mixture of citric acid and 1,3-propandiol. citric acid is one of the instant claimed carboxylic acids and 1,3-propandiol is one of the instant claimed alcohols. Lee further teaches when one of the preferred deep eutectic solvents is added water to 50% content, the extraction capacity reaches maximum (lns418-420) and antioxidant activity of the extraction is highest (lns485-487). In view of such benefits, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skilled artisan in the field, before the effective filing date of instant application, to make a modified deep eutectic solvent containing carboxylic acids, 1,3-propandiol and 50% of water.
Regarding Claims 6 and 9, Lee teaches the deep eutectic solvents made from naturally-derived compounds (ab.).
Regarding Claim 10, Lee teaches the molar ratio of citric acid to 1,3-propandiol being 1: 1.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Benvenutti, as applied to Claim 1 above, and in further view of Lee et al. (KR102276980B1).
Benvenutti teaches a natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) being a mixture of citric acid, glucose and water (table 1). The difference between Benvenutti and instant Claim 8 is that the NADES does not contain one of the claimed alcohol.
However, Lee teaches that 1, 3-propanediol is a hydrogen bond donor and can form a deep eutectic solvent with citric acid (Table 2). Therefore, it would have been obvious, before the effective filing date of instant application, to replace glucose with 1, 3-propanediol to obtain a modified deep eutectic solvent because both glucose and 1, 3-propanediol are hydrogen bond donors for citric acid; replacing glucose with 1, 3-propanediol is just a simple substitution of a known compound with another known compound that has the same function for the same purpose.
Conclusion
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/HUIHONG QIAO/Examiner, Art Unit 1763
/CATHERINE S BRANCH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763