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 .
Status of the Claims
The amendment filed on 04/28/2026 has been entered. Claims 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, 19 and 21 have been amended and claim 11 has been canceled. Thus claims 1-10 and 12-22 are currently pending and are under examination.
Withdrawn Objections and Rejections
The specification of the specification and claims 5 and 19 have been withdrawn in view of the amendments.
Claims 1 and 15 have been amended to obviate the indefinite language and thus the 112(b) rejection of the record has been withdrawn.
Furthermore, claim 1 has been amended by incorporating the allowable subject matter of previously presented, now canceled claim 11. Enomoto (Enomoto, T. et al. “Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Hexaaryl[3]radialenes” Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn, 73, 2000, 2109–2114; cited in IDS 07/31/2023) fails to anticipate the now amended claim 1 and the 102(a)(1) rejection has been withdrawn.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim 10, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends.
The claim fails to further limit claim 1 because the recited formula in claim 10 is necessarily excluded by the amendment of claim 1, in which R’ has been narrowed to substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, substituted or unsubstituted C2 to C18 heteroaryl, electron-withdrawing group, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated alkyl, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated C1 to C6 alkyl, halogen, F, CN, or NO2. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9, 12-15 and 17-22 are allowed and the subject matter of claims 10 and 16 are free of prior art.
The closest prior art reference is Enomoto (Enomoto, T. et al. “Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Hexaaryl[3]radialenes” Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn, 73, 2000, 2109–2114; cited in IDS 07/31/2023) and Patent application publication number US20170373251A1 (US’251; cited in PTO-892 02/05/2026).
Enomoto teaches on pg. 2110 compound 1f that reads on the instant compound of formula (I):
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185
195
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16
113
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In the above compound:
Ar1, Ar2 and Ar3 = C6 aryl groups substituted by NO2,
R’, R’’ and R’’’ = substituted aryl groups, and
wherein the compound contains NO2 groups.
However, Enomoto fails to teach or suggest R’ selected from substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, substituted or unsubstituted C2 to C18 heteroaryl, electron-withdrawing group, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated alkyl, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated C1 to C6 alkyl, halogen, F, CN, and NO2.
Furthermore, there is no motivation to modify the teachings of Enomoto for the substituted aryl groups corresponding to the R’ to arrive at R′ that is selected from substituted or unsubstituted heteroaryl, substituted or unsubstituted C2 to C18 heteroaryl, electron-withdrawing group, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated alkyl, partially fluorinated or perfluorinated C1 to C6 alkyl, halogen, F, CN, and NO2.
US’251 teaches [3]-radialene compound of formula (I):
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134
295
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40
446
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363
443
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The exemplified compounds are shown on pages 4-8, in which the corresponding R’ group is CN.
However, the definition of A1 and A2 fails to teach or suggests modifying the compound of formula (I) in US’251 to contain at least one NO2 group as instantly claimed.
In view of the foregoing, the claimed compound of formula (I) is deemed novel and unobvious over the closest prior art references.
Conclusion
Claims 1-9, 12-15 and 17-22 are allowed and claim 10 are rejected.
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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/MEDHANIT W BAHTA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692