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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on 5/10/2020. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the KR10-2022-0057133 application as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawings
The Drawings filed 5/10/2023 are approved by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-4) in the reply filed on 11/3/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 5-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Groups II-III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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.
Claims 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Brieger et al. (Acta Cryst. (2018). E74, 267–270).
Brieger discloses a method for forming a compound trimethyl(tetrahydrofuran-ĸO)aluminium(III), [Al(CH3)3(C4H8O)], the compound is formed by mixing 200 mg (1.38 mmol, 1.0 eq.) of a 2 M solution of trimethylaluminum in n-heptane with 0.08 ml (1.38 mmol, 1.0 eq.) tetrahydrofuran THF (page 269, Synthesis and crystallization). The trimethylaluminum reads on the claimed chemical formula 3 when R1-R3 are an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom (methyl), and the tetrahydrofuran reads on the claimed chemical formula 2, wherein X is O and R1- R4 are an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom.
Claims 1 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tarao (Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, Vol. 39, Issue 10, October 1966, pages 2132-2134).
Tarao discloses a method for forming a complex, Al(CH3)3·(CH3)2S, the complex is formed by mixing 1:1 ratio a mixture of trimethylaluminum and dimethyl sulfide (Abstract). The trimethylaluminum reads on the claimed chemical formula 3 when R1-R3 are an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom (methyl), and the dimethyl sulfide reads on the claimed chemical formula 1, wherein X is S and R1 and R2 are an alkyl group having 1 carbon atom (methyl).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 3 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 prior art fails to disclose, alone or in combination, an aluminum precursor and a method for manufacturing the precursor, wherein the precursor is formed by mixing ethyl methyl sulfide and trimethylaluminum or ethyl propyl sulfide and trimethylaluminum as recited in claims 2 and 3. Tarao (Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, Vol. 39, Issue 10, October 1966, pages 2132-2134) discloses a method for forming a complex, Al(CH3)3·(CH3)2S, by mixing 1:1 ratio a mixture of trimethylaluminum and dimethyl sulfide but does not disclose or suggest other sulfides can be used and an ordinary skill in the art would not able to arrive at the claimed invention.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HAIDUNG D NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-5455. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th: 10a-3p.
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/HAIDUNG D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
1/23/2026