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) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugihara et al. (JP 3398212 B2) in view of Rykl (US 2020/0276518 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Sugihara et al. discloses a method for analyzing a sample containing a carboxylic acid anhydride (the supercritical fluid chromatography method can be used to analyze a sample containing a variety of chemical substances which would include carboxylic acid anhydride; FIT Machine Translation, page 1, ¶ [0001]), the method comprising, in a stated order: a first step of causing the sample to pass through a column (14) together with a first mobile phase to detect a component eluted from the column (14, 15) in supercritical fluid chromatography (a mobile phase including a carbon dioxide from carbon dioxide cylinder 1 is mixed with a modifier from one of solvent containers 13a-13c is passed through separation column 14; page 4, ll. 31-32, 36-38 and page 5, ll. 7-9, 16-19); and a second step of causing a second mobile phase to pass through the column (14) by switching the mobile phase from the first mobile phase to the second mobile phase after a lapse of a retention time of the component to detect at least one of a component eluted from the column (a second mobile phase of carbon dioxide mixed with a second modifier from another one of solvent containers 13a-13c and is next passed through separation column 14; page 5, ll. 3-6), wherein the first mobile phase is a mixture of carbon dioxide (from carbon dioxide cylinder 1) and an organic solvent having no hydroxyl group (acetone is an organic solvent with no hydroxyl group; page 2, ll. 3-5); and the second mobile phase is a mixture of carbon dioxide (from carbon dioxide cylinder 1) and an organic solvent having a hydroxyl group (ethanol is an organic solvent with a hydroxyl group; page 7, ll. 38-39).
Although Sugihara et al. is silent on the particular component being detected as carboxylic acid, one of ordinary skill would have known that a supercritical fluid chromatography process can be used to separate and analyze various chemical components, including carboxylic acid.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Sugihara et al. to detect carboxylic acid components in a sample as this is applying a known method to a known product to yield predictable results.
Additionally, Sugihara et al. is silent on adding an acid to the ethanol solvent.
Rykl teaches a method (fig. 1) for analyzing a sample using supercritical fluid chromatography wherein a mobile phase is a mixture of carbon dioxide (from carbon dioxide cylinder 10), an acid, and an organic solvent having a hydroxyl group (modifier in modifier container 11 may be methanol or ethanol, which are organic solvents having a hydroxyl group, and an appropriate amount of formic acid; ¶ [0025]); wherein the acid is phosphoric acid or formic acid (formic acid; ¶ [0025]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Sugihara et al. with the acid added to the solvent as taught in Rykl for more effective analysis of highly polar compounds (Rykl, ¶ [0003]).
Regarding claim 3, Sugihara et al. further discloses and the organic solvent having a hydroxyl group is methanol or ethanol (ethanol is an organic solvent with a hydroxyl group; page 7, ll. 38-39).
Sugihara et al. is silent on the organic solvent with no hydroxyl group being acetonitrile.
Rykl teaches wherein the organic solvent having no hydroxyl group is acetonitrile (¶ [0025]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify the apparatus of Sugihara et al. to use acetonitrile as a solvent as taught in Rykl to provide an organic solvent in which carbon dioxide is miscible to allow analysis of a wide variety of compounds (Rykl, ¶ [0003]).
Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jones et al. (US 2015/0331001 A1) is cited for disclosing a supercritical fluid chromatography method utilizing various solvents (methanol, ethanol) mixed with carbon dioxide in a mobile phase (¶ [0059]).
Miyazawa et al. (US 8,158,004 B2) is cited for its disclosure of a supercritical fluid chromatography method (fig. 1) having a first mobile phase (using solvent tank 4) and a second mobile phase (using solvent tank 30).
Shaimi (US 11,071,928 B2) discloses a supercritical fluid chromatography method with mobile phases of carbon dioxide (from tank 6) mixed with various solvents (S1-S6) in varying ratios.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Erika J. Villaluna whose telephone number is (571)272-8348. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9:00 am - 5:30 pm.
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/ERIKA J. VILLALUNA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852