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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 instant claims contain the transitional phrase “comprising”. Per MPEP 2111.03 ‘The transitional term “comprising”, which is synonymous with “including,” “containing,” or “characterized by,” is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps'. This open-ended definition has been taken into consideration in the following rejections.
Claims 1-7, 10-13, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2018/0348577 A1 to Pousthomis et al. (hereinafter Pousthomis).
Regarding claim 1, Pousthomis discloses a protein capped (functionalized, para [0310]-[0311]) halide perovskite nanocrystal (p-HPNC) (para [0658]) comprising:
a crystalline (para [0649]-[0653]) core of halide perovskites (para [0026] and [0658]) and an outer layer (functionalizing layer) made of protein surrounding the crystalline core (para [0311], wherein the protein has a net positive electric charge at a pH of 3 or less in its free state (stable under acidic conditions, para [0319]), the protein is linked to the surface of the crystalline core (functional layer, para [0311]), and wherein the halide perovskites have a formula ABX3, wherein A is selected from a group comprising monovalent cations, B is selected from a group comprising divalent cations, and X is selected from a group comprising monovalent halide anions (para [0673]). Also see the Geng reference cited below, which teaches that halide perovskites such as CH3NH3PbBr3 carry a positive charge in acidic aqueous solutions (page 9651, para 3).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select A from monovalent cations, to select B from divalent cations, and to select X from monovalent halide anions to facilitate formation of known perovskites such as CH3NH3PbBr3 and CsPbI3 (para [0675]) and thereby provide luminescent materials with improved optical (efficiency) and mechanical (resistance to oxidation) properties (para [0006]-[0007]).
Regarding claim 2, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the protein is linked to the crystalline core by at least one of hydrogen bonds (para [0620]) and electrostatic interactions. It is understood that the reference indicates the presence of electrostatic interactions in some embodiments as particular embodiments are called out as not having such interactions (para [0587]).
Regarding claim 3, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the outer layer is a capping (functionalizing) layer and the protein is a capping protein (para [0311]).
Regarding claim 4, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the p-HPNC has a full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of lower than 90 nm (para [0164]), which overlaps the instantly claimed range of from 10 to 50 nm. See MPEP 2144.05(I(), which states that ‘In the case where the claimed ranges “overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art” a prima facie case of obviousness exists’.
Regarding claim 5, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the protein is selected from a group that has a molecular weight of from 500 Da to 500 kDa. For example, see albumin (para [0311]), which has a molecular weight of 66.7 kDa. 66.7 kDa falls completely within the instantly claimed range.
Regarding claims 6 and 7, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the protein is selected from a group that has an isoelectric point (pl) in the range of 3- 12 and 3.5-5.5. See albumin (para [0311]) which has an isoelectric point of 4.6-4.9, that falls completely within the instantly claimed ranges.
Regarding claim 10, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein X is l, Br or CI (para [0673]).
Regarding claim 11, Pousthomis discloses the p-HPNC of claim 1, wherein the crystalline core is a cubic phase (CsPbI3) or a tetragonal phase (FAPbBr3) (para [0673]).
Regarding claim 12, Pousthomis discloses an aqueous colloidal suspension comprising p-HPNC colloids, wherein the p-HPNC is as defined in claim 1, as discussed above, and wherein the aqueous colloidal suspension has a pH ≤7 (para [0319]), which overlaps the instantly claimed range of less than 7. See MPEP 2144.05(I), cited above.
Regarding claim 13, Pousthomis discloses the aqueous colloidal suspension of claim 12, wherein the pH is equal to or less than 6 (stable under acidic conditions, para [0319])..
Regarding claim 20, Pousthomis discloses an imaging method comprising: irradiating the aqueous colloidal suspension (as a coating or ink, para [1491]) as defined in claim 12, as discussed above, with a light irradiation (para [1486] and [1521]), and measuring the photoluminescence in terms of wavelength emission peak (para [0128]), quantum yield (para [0168]), and color purity (para [0071]).
Claims 14-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pousthomis in view of “Aqueous Synthesis of Methylammonium Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals” by Geng et al. (hereinafter Geng), provided in the IDS filed 1/20/23.
Regarding claim 14, Pousthomis discloses an aqueous colloidal suspension comprising p-HPNC colloids (as discussed above), made by known methods (para [0786]) that include wet processing of precursor materials, including capping materials (para [1562]-[1564] and [1574]). The examples in the reference are all drawn to capped semiconductor nanocrystals. However, the reference but does not further disclose the method for making capped perovskites.
Pousthomis does not expressly recite a method comprising:
mixing in an acidic aqueous solution a divalent cation B, a monovalent halide anion X, and a protein, to obtain a dispersion comprising the divalent cation B, the monovalent halide anion X, and the capping protein;
mixing in the dispersion a monovalent cation A, and increasing the pH of the
dispersion to obtain the p-HPNC colloids and the aqueous colloidal suspension.
However, Geng does teach a method of making an aqueous, colloidal solution (page 9651, para 2) of organically capped HPNCs (page 9562, para 1), the method comprising:
mixing in an acidic aqueous solution a divalent cation B, a monovalent halide anion X, and an organic capping material, to obtain a dispersion comprising the divalent cation B, the monovalent halide anion X, (page 9651, para 1) and the organic capping material (page 9652, para 1)
mixing in the dispersion a monovalent cation A, and increasing the pH of the
dispersion from <1 to 7 or slightly alkaline pH (page 9651, para 1) to obtain the p-HPNC colloids and the aqueous colloidal suspension (para 9651, para 2).
It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to employ the known method of Geng as the known method of making the protein capped HPNCs of Pousthomis, where the organic capping material is protein, to facilitate efficient formation of aqueous-stable HPNCs for in vitro studies (Geng, page 9651, para 3).
Regarding claims 15-17, Pousthomis in view of Geng discloses the method of claim 14. Geng further teaches wherein the monovalent cation A is selected from CH3NH3+ (page 9651, para 2) and Cs+ (conventional alternative to CH3NH3+, page 9650, para 1), X is Br and B is Pb (page 9651, para 2).
Regarding claim 18, Pousthomis in view of Geng discloses the method of claim 14. Geng further teaches wherein the acidic aqueous solution has a pH of less than 3 (pH <1, page 9651, para 1).
Regarding claim 19, Pousthomis in view of Geng discloses the method of claim 14. Geng further teaches wherein the method is understood to be performed at ambient conditions of temperature and pressure as no changes in temperature or pressure are taught or suggested (para 9651, para 1-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art, Pousthomis, discloses an overlapping p-HPNC comprising proteins but does not teach or suggest casein, in particular.
Conclusion
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/L.E./Examiner, Art Unit 1734
/Matthew E. Hoban/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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