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 .
Claims 1-20 are pending in the instant application. Claims 5 and 20 are rejected. Claims 1-4 and 6-19 are allowed.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of Group I, claims 1-11, in the response filed on July 1, 2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s): there is no undue burden. Upon further search and consideration, the restriction requirement has been withdrawn (i.e., the full scope of the subject matter of claims 1-20 has been searched and examined in its entirety).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 5 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Specifically, claims 5 and 20 recite the limitation wherein said diethylether solvent used in step (f) and step (d), respectively, is replaced by a solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, diisopropylether, tetrahydrofuran (THF), ethylformate, ethylacetate, acetonitrile, methylenechloride, ethylenedi-chloride, chloroform, benzene and toluene. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claims. Claims 1 and 12, from which claims 5 and 20 depend on, respectively, only disclose using C2H5OC2H5 in the recited steps. This rejection can be overcome, for example, by canceling claims 5 and 20.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-4 and 6-19 are allowed. No prior art was found.
The claims differ from the synthesis of vitamin D3 from cholesterol of the prior art, for example, because (i) the cholesterol is derived from the processing of fish oil raw materials; (ii) step (e) in claim 1 and step (c) in claim 12 disclose using lithium aluminum tetrahydride in toluene to obtain 7-dehydrocholesterol; and (iii) step (f) in claim 1 and step (d) in claim 12 disclose using ethyl ether to synthesize vitamin D3.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTIN ANN VAJDA whose telephone number is (571)270-5232. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00-4:00.
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/KRISTIN A VAJDA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1622
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