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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-4 of S. Zhang et al., US 18/546,986 (Sept. 2, 2021) are under examination on the merits and are rejected.
Claim Interpretation
Examination requires claim terms first be construed in terms in the broadest reasonable manner during prosecution as is reasonably allowed in an effort to establish a clear record of what applicant intends to claim. See, MPEP § 2111. Under a broadest reasonable interpretation, words of the claim must be given their plain meaning, unless such meaning is inconsistent with the specification. See MPEP § 2111.01. It is also appropriate to look to how the claim term is used in the prior art, which includes prior art patents, published applications, trade publications, and dictionaries. MPEP § 2111.01 (III).
Summary of Claim 1
Claim 1 recites as follows:
1. (Original) A method for producing water-soluble azo dyes by continuous diazotization reaction and continuous coupling reaction in a pipeline reactor,
wherein,
at room temperature, material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction are fed from an inlet at a bottom of the pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof,
when detects that, at a sampling port of the pipeline reactor, the diazotization reaction is completed and diazonium salt is produced, a coupling component solution with a preset pH is input from an inlet adjacent to above the sampling port,
so that the coupling component solution meets the diazonium salt solution followed by uniformly mixing under the stirring of the micro stirring blades to perform the coupling reaction to produce the water-soluble azo dyes which are discharged from a top of the pipeline reactor.
Thus, claim 1 requires that “material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction” are fed into the claimed pipeline reactor to give an intermediate “diazonium salt” then “a coupling component solution” is then fed into the reactor, which reacts to give the product “water-soluble azo dye”, which is collected from the top of the reactor. This is schematically summarized by the Examiner below.
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See, specification at page 6, lines 1-30.
Specification working Example 1 is exemplary of the chemical reaction that occurs in the claimed pipeline reactor.
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Specification at page 7, lines 4-10.
Interpretation of the Claim 1 “pipeline reactor”
Claim 1 recites “pipeline reactor” as follows:
1 . . . pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof . . .
Regarding the “pipeline reactor” structure, the most relevant portion of the specification teaches:
The structure of the pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along the axial direction provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure is shown as FIG. 1.
The pipeline reactor is a vertical pipeline reactor, including a pipe body 1, a rotating shaft 2 disposed at the inner central axis of the pipe body 1, a motor 3 disposed at the top of the rotating shaft 2, a plurality of micro stirring blades 4 disposed on the rotating shaft 2, a feed inlet I 5 disposed on the side of the bottom of the pipeline reactor, a top discharge port 6 disposed on the side of the top of the pipeline reactor, and a bottom discharge port 7 disposed at the bottom of the pipeline reactor.
Several groups of inlets II and sampling ports are disposed on the side of the pipeline reactor between the top discharge port 6 and the inlet II, with an equal spacing between inlet II and sampling port of each group. In each group of inlet II and sampling port, the inlet II 8 is located adjacent to above the sampling port 9.
Specification at page 6, lines 9-19 (emphasis added). Fig. 1 has numbers atop two-headed arrows, but the specification gives no commentary on their meaning. Further, Fig. 1 does not indicate that it is to any particular scale; thus, the inference is that the claimed reactor structure (e.g., the “micro blades”)1 are not intended as constricted to any particular size or dimension.
In view of the foregoing, the claim 1 term “pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof” is broadly and reasonably interpreted, consistently with the specification, as comprising an elongated reactor equipped with least two axially distributed stirring appendages (of any size/dimension) that moveably function to mix the reagents within the elongated reactor.
Interpretation of the Claim 1 Reactants and Products
As discussed above, claim 1 requires the following reactants and products:
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The claim 1 term “material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction” is broadly and reasonably interpreted, consistently with the specification, as a primary aryl amine and reagent(s) that convert the primary arylamine to a diazonium salt (e.g., nitrous acid, generated in situ from sodium nitrite/hydrochloric acid). See, specification at page 1, lines 10-17 (“[t]he diazotization reaction of water-soluble primary arylamines is carried out in the aqueous solution of arylamines, with nitrite as the diazotization reagent, and the nitrite is produced in situ with sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid in the reaction system”); see also, Id. at page 3, lines 15-20. This interpretation is consistent with the art, which teaches that the diazotization reaction (in azo dye synthesis) is carried out by treating the primary aromatic amine with nitrous acid, normally generated in situ with hydrochloric acid and sodium nitrite. Kirk‐Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Dyes and Dye Intermediates, 1-66 (2009) (see page 6). Note also that a dye (as claimed) necessarily requires a conjugated system of aryl rings. Id.
The claim 1 term “a coupling component solution” is broadly and reasonably interpreted, based on its plain language and consistently with the specification, as any compound that, upon reacting with the intermediate “diazonium salt” results in “water-soluble azo dye”. Specification at page 1, lines 10-17 (“[p]rimary arylamine diazonium salt reacts with aromatic compounds containing amino or hydroxyl on equal molar equivalent in aqueous solution to produce azo compounds, namely the water-soluble azo dyes”); see also, Kirk‐Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Dyes and Dye Intermediates, 1-66 (2009) (see page 6).
The term “water-soluble azo dye” is broadly and reasonably interpreted as a compound comprising two aryl groups directly linked by a diazo group (-N=N-) and which is soluble in water at room temperature. Specification at page 1, lines 10-17 (“[p]rimary arylamine diazonium salt reacts with aromatic compounds containing amino or hydroxyl on equal molar equivalent in aqueous solution to produce azo compounds, namely the water-soluble azo dyes”); see also, Kirk‐Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Dyes and Dye Intermediates, 1-66 (2009) (see page 6).
Rejections 35 U.S.C. 112(b)
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.
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 112, the claim must apprise one of ordinary skill in the art of its scope so as to provide clear warning to others as to what constitutes infringement. MPEP 2173.02(II); Solomon v. Kimberly-Clark Corp., 216 F.3d 1372, 1379, 55 USPQ2d 1279, 1283 (Fed. Cir. 2000). The meaning of every term used in a claim should be apparent from the prior art or from the specification and drawings at the time the application is filed. Claim language may not be ambiguous, vague, incoherent, opaque, or otherwise unclear in describing and defining the claimed invention. MPEP § 2173.05(a).
Indefinite Claim Language
Claims 2 (dependent upon claim 1) is rejected pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 112, as indefinite because the following bolded language is unclear:
Clam 2 . . . S1. inputting, at room temperature, a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid in a molar ratio of 1: 1.05: (2.10 to 2.30)
after metering into the bottom of the pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along the axial direction for diazotization reaction, and the material solutions flowing upward under the action of feed driving force . . .
First, the claim 2 language “a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid” does not have clear antecedent basis in claim 1. MPEP § 2173.05(e). The Examiner guesses that the claim 2 recitation of “a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid” is intended to correspond to the claim 1 “material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction”. Specification at page 3, lines 14-20. However, claim 1 should be amended to such that the relationship between the claim 2 recitation of “a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid” and claim 1 is clear. MPEP § 2173.05(e).
Second, claim 2 recites the four-number ratio of “1: 1.05: (2.10 to 2.30)” with respect to three components (i.e., “a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid”), where part of the ratio is in parenthesis. It is not clear to one of skill which component corresponds which ratio number or what the parenthesis represent. For example, does Applicant intend “1 mol of diazo component to 1.05 mols of sodium nitrite to 2.10 – 2.30 moles of hydrochloric acid”?
Third, it is not clear what “after metering into the bottom of the pipeline reactor” means in the claim’s context. There is no antecedent basis for “metering in” in base claim 1. MPEP § 2173.05(e). It is not clear from the claim, in view of the specification, what reagent undergoes the claim 2 “metering into the bottom of the pipeline reactor”.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or non-obviousness.
Claims 1-4 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over H. Langfeld et al., US 5,606,034 (1997) (“Langfeld”); L. Schlafer et al., US 4,818,814 (1989) (“Schlafer”); D. Morris, WO 2021/204834 (2021) (“Morris”); and H. Qiu et al., CN 109621879 (2019) (“Qiu”).
H. Langfeld et al., US 5,606,034 (1997) (“Langfeld”)
Langfeld teaches that diazotizing aromatic amines of formula I below in simple manner by carrying out the diazotization continuously in the temperature range from about 35° to 65° C. Langfeld at col. 1, lines 44-47. Langfeld teaches that:
Diazotisation is carried out in a commercially available continuous flow reactor which is preferably fitted with a mixer for very intensive mixing of the components. The procedure comprises e.g. running in the amine, alkali metal nitrite and mineral acid e.g. through three separate feed lines synchronously in the requisite amounts. However, it is also possible to mix two of the components, conveniently amine and alkali metal nitrite, with each other before they are introduced into the flow reactor.
Langfeld at col. 2, lines 40-48 (emphasis added). Langfeld further teaches that “[c]oupling is effected in conventional manner with the customary coupling components used for the preparation of azo dyes”. Langfeld at col. 2, lines 62-64.
In working Example 1, Langfeld teaches that 4'-amino-4-nitrodiphenylamine-2-sulfonic acid and diazotizing reagent (HCl and sodium nitrite) are synchronously run into a continuous flow reactor (at 47 °C - 50 °C) fitted with a high-speed mixer for very good micromixing, in a continuous reaction, whereby the diazotized amine that exits the reactor is cooled and collected in a receiver vessel. Langfeld at col. 3, lines 45-59. Langfeld teaches that next the cooled diazonium salt is then added at about pH 8.6 in alkaline medium buffered with sodium carbonate to the coupling product (obtained in known manner), to form the product dye, which is salted out in conventional manner by addition of NaCl in strongly acidic medium, isolated and dried, affording about 915 parts of dry powder that dyes leather. Langfeld at col. 3, line 59 – col. 4, line 6.
Differences between Langfeld and Claim 1
Langfeld, although teaching that the Example 1 continuous flow reactor “is fitted with a high-speed mixer for very good micromixing”, does not specifically teach the reactor shape or the mixer specifications and thus does not specifically meet the claim limitation of “pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof”.
Langfeld further differs by teaching a diazotization temperature range from about 35° to 65° C, whereas claim 1 requires room temperature. Langfeld at col. 1, lines 44-47. And Langfeld Example differs from claim 1 in not teaching the location on the continuous flow reactor in which the arylamine and diazotizing reagent are input. Thus, Langfled does not teach the claim 1 limitation of “at room temperature, material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction are fed from an inlet at a bottom of the pipeline reactor”.
Still further, Langfeld teaches coupling the diazonium salt in a separate reaction (i.e., outside of the continuous flow reactor) and thus does not meet the claim 1 limitation of:
Claim 1 . . . a coupling component solution with a preset pH is input from an inlet adjacent to above the sampling port, so that the coupling component solution meets the diazonium salt solution followed by uniformly mixing under the stirring of the micro stirring blades . . .
L. Schlafer et al., US 4,818,814 (1989) (“Schlafer”)
Schlafer teaches water soluble diazo dyes of formula (I).
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Schlafer at col. 1, lines 40-50.
Schlafer teaches preparation of formula (I) by coupling a monoazo compound of the general formula (4) with the diazonium compound of an aromatic amine of the general formula (5). Schlafer at col. 2, lines 46-67.
Schlafer teaches the following one-pot working Example 1
EXAMPLE 1.
28.1 parts of 4-aminophenyl [Symbol font/0x62]-sulfatoethyl sulfone are diazotized in conventional manner in a mixture of 100 parts of ice-water and 35 parts of 31% strength aqueous hydrochloric acid with 13.1 parts by volume of an aqueous 40% strength sodium nitrite solution.
After the diazotization reaction has ended, 31.9 parts of 1-amino-8-naphthol-3,6-disulfonic acid are added, the pH value is brought to 1 to 2 and the coupling reaction is completed within this pH range at a temperature below 10 C. with about 4 hours of stirring.
Schlafer at col. 6, lines 36-47. This reaction can be summarized as the following one-pot reaction:
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See, CASREACT Indexing of L. Schlafer et al., US 4,818,814 (1989).
D. Morris, WO 2021/204834 (2021) (“Morris”)
Morris teaches dynamic mixing or agitation within reactants as they pass along the length of a reactor (preferably tubular), where the reactor may be horizontal, vertical, inclined or a combination thereof. Morris at page 2, lines 20-25.
Morris teaches a process wherein a process material comprising two or more distinct phases are fed continuously to a tubular reactor containing an agitator, wherein as the phases flow along the reactor the agitator displaces at least part of a first phase from its distinct position to within a second phase where it is distributed within the second phase by the agitator and the agitator is designed to allow the first phase that is distributed within the second phase to flow naturally back towards its original distinct position within the reactor as the phases pass through the reactor.. Morris at page 3, lines 8-15. Morris teaches that the agitator is provided inside the vessel which is capable of rotational or reciprocal movement through an arc and the agitator is shaped to capture material from a first phase in its preferred situation. Morris at page 3, lines 20-22.
Morris teaches that the sizes and shapes of the agitators used in this invention may be chosen according to the size and shape of the reactor and/or the nature of the reaction or mixing process for which the reactor is to be used and the sizes and shapes of the agitator may be varied within a tubular reactor according to the reaction or mixing that is being performed and this can increase the flexibility and use of the invention. Morris at page 5, lines 26-31.
H. Qiu et al., CN 109621879 (2019) (“Qiu”)
An English-machine language translation is attached as the second half of reference Qiu. Qiu thus consists of 14 total pages (including the English-language portion). Accordingly, this Office action references Qiu page numbers in the following format “xx of 14”.
Qiu teaches the tubular reactor show in Fig. 1, which as can be seen (and as per claim 1) comprises a plurality of stirring blades distributed along an axial direction. Qiu at page 6 or 14.
Qiu teaches that the tubular reactor is provided with a heat exchange jacket maintaining the heat exchange, with the reaction cavity; two sides of the reaction cavity is provided with a flange and the sealing connection; reaction cavity one end side is provided with a material inlet, the other end side is provided with a material outlet, the lower end is outlet. Qiu at page 11 of 14, lines 3-9. Qiu teaches that stirrer is composed of a stirring shaft 10 and the stirring shaft 10 the middle of the permanent magnetic rotor (9), two ends of the permanent magnet 20 and the permanent magnet 20 with the permanent magnetic rotor 9 of 4 stirring blade 11. Qiu at page 12 of 14, last full paragraph.
Obviousness Rationale
Claim 1 is obvious for the following reasons. One of ordinary skill is motivated to prepare water-soluble azo dyes by continuous diazotization reaction as directly taught by Langfeld (for example, any of the water-soluble azo dyes taught by Schlafer). Towards this, one of ordinary skill is motivated to employ (per claim 1) a “pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof” because Langfeld (although not teaching the specifics of the continuous reactor employed) does teach that that the Example 1 continuous flow reactor “is fitted with a high-speed mixer for very good micromixing”.2 Langfeld at col. 2, lines 40-48. For instance, one of ordinary skill is motivated to employ either a Morris stirring shaft (see Morris Figures 1-3) or the stirring shaft of Qiu (see Qiu Figure 1, at page 6 of 14), each of which meets the claim 1 limitation of a “plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof” (see footnote 2), in either of the Morris or Qiu tubular reactors. One of ordinary skill is motivated to perform the claim 1 step of the “material solutions participating in a diazotization reaction are fed from an inlet at a bottom of the pipeline reactor” because Morris teaches reactor may be horizontal, vertical, inclined or a combination thereof (Morris at page 2, lines 20-25) and Qiu depicts the reactor in a vertical arrangement. It is clear to one of ordinary skill, that in a continuous process, reactants could conceivably be added at any point along the column length, where if the proposed vertical pipeline arrangement is employed, gravity dictates reactants will be accumulate at the pipeline bottom no matter the inlet location.
One of ordinary skill is motivated to optimize the above-proposed continuous diazotization reaction to room temperature (of course, depending on the requirements of the particular arylamine reactant employed) to avoid the costs of heating (as taught by the Langfeld diazotization) or cooling (as taught by the Schlafer diazotization) and thereby optimize reaction efficiency. One of ordinary skill in the art to develop workable or optimum ranges for result-effective parameters, where Applicant can rebut a prima facie case of obviousness by showing the criticality (unexpected result) of the range. MPEP § 2144.05; see also, In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272,276 (CCPA 1980); In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456 (CCPA 1955). Generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical. MPEP § 2144.04(II)(A) (citing In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955) ("[w]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation”))
Next, one of ordinary skill is further motivated to add (per claim 1) the “coupling component solution”, directly to the above-proposed “pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof” (of course, after the diazotization reaction is complete, where one of ordinary skill is motivated to assay the reaction at a sampling port) because Schlafer teaches that diazotization and coupling reaction can be accomplished in a single pot. Schlafer at col. 6, lines 36-47. One of ordinary skill thereby meets each and every limitation of claim 1.
Claim 2 is obvious for the following reasons. First, one of ordinary skill is motivated to employ sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid in a molar ratio of 1: 1.05: (2.10 to 2.30) as the diazotization reagent because both Langfeld and Schlafer teach sodium nitrite and hydrochloric acid as the diazotization reagent and the stoichiometry for the reaction between sodium nitrite (NaNO₂) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) to produce nitrous acid (HNO₂) (the active diazotization agent) is a simple 1:1 ratio, represented by the equation NaNO₂ + HCl → HNO₂ + NaCl. Thus, the following claim 2 limitation is met.
Clam 2 . . . S1. inputting, at room temperature, a diazo component, sodium nitrite and a hydrochloric acid in a molar ratio of 1: 1.05: (2.10 to 2.30) after metering into the bottom of the pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along the axial direction for diazotization reaction, and the material solutions flowing upward under the action of feed driving force . . .
See § 112(b) rejection above. One of ordinary skill is further motivated to, per claim 2, perform the step of:
. . . S2. detecting in real time through the sampling ports during the reaction process to determine a position of the pipeline reactor where the reaction solution is located when the diazotization reaction is completed . . .
to avoid side reactions with the subsequently added coupling agent.
One of ordinary skill is further motivated to, per claim 2, perform the step of:
. . . S3. inputting, at room temperature, the coupling component with a preset pH after accurate metering into the inlet adjacent to above a sampling port where the diazotization reaction is completed, wherein a molar ratio of the coupling component to the diazo component is 1: 1, and the coupling component and the diazo component carrying out the coupling reaction and flowing upward under the action of feed driving force . . .
because the stoichiometric ratio is a one-to-one reaction. Claim 2 is therefore obvious over the cited art.
The limitations of claim 3 are clearly met by the above-proposed cited art combination.
Claim 4 is obvious because one of ordinary skill can scale the pipeline reactor dimensions such that it can (is capable of) handling a “diazotization reaction with a solution concentration of the diazo component higher than 200 g/L and the coupling reaction with a solution concentration of the coupling component higher than 200 g/L”.
Conclusion
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ALEXANDER R. PAGANO
Examiner
Art Unit 1692
/ALEXANDER R PAGANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
1 That is, the specification does not convey that there are any size or dimensional requirements for the claimed “micro stirring blades”.
2 Per Claim Interpretation above, the claim 1 “pipeline reactor with a plurality of built-in micro stirring blades distributed along an axial direction thereof” is broadly and reasonably interpreted, consistently with the specification, as comprising an elongated reactor equipped with least two axially distributed stirring appendages (of any size/dimension) that moveably function to mix the reagents within the elongated reactor.