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
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 7-9, 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wyndham et al. (US 2016/0184736).
Regarding claims 1, 7-9, 14-16 Wyndham et al. discloses chromatographic materials comprising core shell particles having a non-porous polymer containing core (par. [0108], magnetic nanoparticles within a non-porous silica or polymer particle) and a porous shell material applied to the non-porous core by modifying the surface thereof such that electrostatic or acid/based interactions adhered the shell material to the core or a prebonding with an alkoxysilane layer having an ionizable groups. (par. [0520]). The core material may include an “inorganic/organic hybrid” nonporous core which would therefore meet the limitation of a “non-porous organic polymer particle core” as claimed. (par. [0095] and [0116]). The shell materials may include hybrid organic-inorganic materials. (par. [0110] and [0196]). The core particles may further include a non-porous surface coating that may be silica, hybrid or polymeric. (par. [0109]). In certain embodiments, each layer of porous shell material is applied using alkoxysilanes, organoalkoxysilanes, nanoparticles, polyorganosiloxane or combinations thereof (para 0541). The organosiloxane is selected from the group of phenyltriethoxysilane; 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene; 1,4-bis(trimethoxysilyl)benzene; 1,3-bis(triethoxysilyl)benzene; 1,3-bis(trimethoxysilyl)benzene (para 0558). Wyndham discloses that the core has a pore volume of less than 0.1 g/cc (para 0116). Wyndham discloses that the hybrid surface modifier may include silica (para 0054).
With respect to the transitional phrase “consisting essentially of”, the limitation limits the scope of the claim to specified materials and steps “and those that do not materially effect the basic and novel characteristic(s) of the claimed invention”. MPEP 2113.03 III. For purposes of applying prior art under 35 U.S.C. §102/103, absent a clear indication in the specification or claims of what the basic and novel characteristics actually are, “consisting essentially of” will be construed as equivalent to “comprising”. MPEP 2113.03 III. If Applicant contends that additional steps or materials are excluded by the use of “consisting essentially of”, they bear the burden of showing that the introduction of additional steps or components would materially change the characteristics of the claimed invention. The disclosure in Wyndham et al. of a “heavily cross-linked polymer” in par. [0095] would meet the limitation of a core which “consists essentially of organic polymer”. Furthermore, the disclosure of the hybrid material for the core in par. [0095] does not affect the basic and novel characteristics in view of Applicant’s specification. As such, the specification therefore does not provide a clear indication of what the basic and novel characteristics actually are, beyond the content of organic material, and is being interpreted as equivalent to “comprising” for purposes of applying prior art.
Regarding claim 13, Wyndham et al. does not explicitly disclose the thickness of the surface modifying coating.
However, Wyndham et al. discloses that the cores have dimensions of less than 100 nm which is fully encompassed by the presently claimed range (par. [0185]) and that the surface modification may have a controlled thickness to achieve the prevention of side reactions. (par. [0109]). One of ordinary skill in the art would therefore have found it obvious to optimize the overall thickness of the surface modifying coating based on the desired to achieve the improvements resulting from the coating without having an excessively thick coating such that the particle become substantially too large within the disclosure of par. [0185].
Regarding claims 17-18, Wyndham discloses "organosilyl repeat unit" describes a chemically distinct silane-based constituent or component of the composite materials of the present invention that is functionalized with at least one organic moiety directly bonded to the silicon atom, e.g., an organosiloxane (e.g., R'.sub.q--Si(OR'').sub.4-q, wherein R' and R'' are lower alkyl moieties and q is a positive number ranging from 0 to 4). The organic moiety may contain polymerizable or non-polymerizable functional groups. In certain embodiments, the organic repeat unit is represented by the symbol "B," which may comprise one or more different forms of organosilyl repeat unit and which may, for example, be an oxysilyl-substituted alkyl group such as Formula 1 (para 0059-0060), where formula 1 meets the limitation of claims 17-18.
Claim(s) 2-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wyndham et al. (US 2016/0184736) in view of Brousmiche et al. (US 2019/0322783).
Regarding claims 2-6, Wyndham fails to disclose the non-porous polymer particle core is product of at least one monomer which is radical polymerizable monomer, monomer comprising two functional groups, monomer which is capable of polymerizing by ring opening or condensation polymerization.
Whereas, Brousmiche et al. discloses a method of making mono-dispersed non-porous polymer particles having a gradient composition for use in chromatography. (Abstract). Brousmiche et al. discloses that the polymer materials include monofunctional, polyfunctional and hydrophilic monomers such as acrylates, methacrylate, styrenes, acrylonitriles, vinyl ester, vinyl halides, vinyl halides, vinyl amides, divinylbenzene, glycidyl methacrylate. (par. [0016]-[0019]) all of which encompasses monomers as claimed in claims 2-6. Brousmiche et al. further discloses that the particular monomer materials may be selected based on the selection of desired chemical gradient composition, glass transition temperature, degree of crosslinking and properties which may be predetermined by one of ordinary skill in the art. (par. [0057]). Brousmiche et al. discloses that the monomers may have hydrophobic, hydrophilic, polyfunctional and monofunctional monomer residues. (par. [0016]-[0020] and [0023]). The monomers disclosed in par. [0016]-[0019] of Brousmiche et al. are polymerized by condensation thereof. An amide as disclosed in Brouschmiche et al. is the result of a reaction between a carboxylic acid and an amine. Brousmiche et al. discloses that hydrophilic monomers may include glycidyl methacrylate which is an epoxy containing monomer that is polymerized by ring-opening polymerization. (par. [0019] and [0050]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a polymer based on the monomers disclosed in Brousmiche et al. for the polymer core disclosed in Wyndham motivated by to get properties of the particles in a predetermined way as discussed in par. [0057].
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wyndham et al. (US 2016/0184736) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Wyndham et al. (US 2011/0049056).
Regarding claim 10, Wyndham discloses composite material comprising a nanoparticle dispersed within an inorganic or hybrid material derived from one or more components selected from the group consisting of an organic repeat unit; an organosilyl repeat unit; and an inorganic repeat unit (claim 1). The organic repeat unit is incorporated into the material by reaction of an organic olefin repeat unit selected from the group consisting of divinylbenzene, styrene, vinylbenzylchloride, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone, N-vinylcaprolactam (para 0170).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to modify the core of Wyndham’736 with N-vinylcaprolactam as taught by Wyndham’056 motivated by the desire to have improved polymerization.
Claim(s) 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wyndham et al. (US 2016/0184736) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Liu et al. (US 2020/0384480).
Regarding claims 11-12, Wyndham et al. is relied upon as described in the rejection of claim 1, above. Wyndham et al. does not disclose that the porous shell layer is bonded to the modified surface via a monomer residue that covalently bonds or electrostatically bonds to the porous hybrid organic-inorganic shell layer.
Whereas, Liu et al. discloses a polymer functionalized magnetic particles for isolating and extracting solutes (Abstract) wherein the functionalized surface may be bonded to a component within the shell material via covalent, coordinate bonds or using a charge moiety (i.e. electrostatically) (par. [0059]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to bond the shell material to the modified surface disclosed in Wyndham et al. via one of the bonds disclosed in Liu, including electrostatic and covalent bonds
One of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to bond the shell via method as disclosed in Liu et al. in view of the fact that these are known in the art to be suitable for bonding a shell material to a modified polymer core for use in a chromatography. The application of a known process to a product for improving it in the same way in a predictable manner is prima facie obvious. (MPEP 2143 A). Furthermore, the selection of which of the bonding methods would have allowed on of ordinary skill in the art to select the overall composition of the core and shell material based on the intended end use thereof.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 01/29/2026 has been fully considered, but they are moot in view of new grounds of rejections as stated above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/RONAK C PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1788