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 § 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.
Claim 17 recites the limitation "having a structure corresponding to formula (IV)" under (ii), line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
Claims 1-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2023/0331914 to Jin et al. in view of “Replacing bisphenol-A with bisguaicol-F to synthesize polybenzoxazines for a pollution free environment” to Periyasamy et al. or “Preparation of lignin/glycerol based bis(cyclic carbonate for the synthesis of polyurethanes” to Chen et al. (Cited on IDS).
As to claims 1-3, Jin discloses a method for synthesizing polyhydroxyurethane polymers by using cyclic carbonates, amines, and base cataylsts wherein the amines include a mixture of a triamine component and a diamine component (Table 1).
Jin discloses suitable cyclic carbonates and triamines represented by the following:
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The cyclic carbonate of Jin is not a lignin-derivable cyclic carbonate.
However, Periyasamy in the working field of polymers teaches that bisquaiacol F (BGF) is a viable alternative to BPA as a monomer for polymer materials due to the fact that BGF has a similar structure to BPA (See Abstract, pg. 9313 col.1 para. 1-3 to col. 2 para 1). Periyasmy further teaches that BGF retains the desirable thermal and mechanical properties of BGA (col. 2 para 1, pg. 9313).
At the time of filing it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to substitute BPA used in Jin for BGF taught in Periyasamy to prepare the cyclic carbonate to yield bio-based polyhydroxurethane and improve green strength of the polymer (Abstract).
Further, Chin discloses a bis(cyclic carbonate) obtained via glycidylation of lignin based bisphenol followed by cycloaddition with CO2 (Abstract). The bis(cyclic carbonate) is respresented by the following: (meets formula III)
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At the time of filing it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to substitute BPA used in Jin for the bis(cyclic carbonate) of Chin to prepare the cyclic carbonate to yield bio-based polyhydroxurethane and improve green strength by reducing environmental concerns (introduction/abstract) of the polymer. Further, the polyaddition of the multifunctional cyclic carbonates with multifunctional amines is an economic reaction and provides polyhydroxyurethanes with unique properties (Col. 1-2).
As to claims 4-8, Jin discloses suitable polyamines including hydrazine, diethylenetriamine, isophorone diamine, tris(2-aminoethyl)amine and Priamine (0017). Jin discloses a mixture of TREN (triamine) and DETA (diamine (PHU 2-PHU 5, see Figure 4 of Jin).
As to claims 9-10, Jin in view of Chin teach mixtures of cyclic carbonates of bisphenol A and lignin-derived cyclic carbonates may be used (Examples).
As to claim 11, Jin discloses a molar ratio of cyclic carbonates to polyamines of 1:1 (0012).
As to claim 12, with regard to the claimed properties, the Office realizes that all of the claimed effects or physical properties are not positively stated by the references. However, the references teach all of the claimed ingredients. Therefore, the claimed effects and physical properties, i.e. toughness and yield strength would implicitly be achieved by a composite with all the claimed ingredients. If it is the applicants’ position that this would not be the case: (1) evidence would need to be provided to support the applicants’ position; and (2) it would the Office’s position that the application contains inadequate disclosure that there is no teaching as to how to obtain the claimed properties with only the claimed ingredients.
As to claims 13-16, Jin discloses articles such as heat-preservation foams, adhesives, packages, and medical devices prepare from compositions comprising the polyhydroxurethanes and suitable additives such as surface modifiers, dyes, pigments, and mold release agents (0031).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL L LEONARD whose telephone number is (571)270-7450. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 7:00-4:00.
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/MICHAEL L LEONARD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1763
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