DETAILED ACTIONNotice 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 .
Response to Election/Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-5 and 11-13 in the reply filed on July 27, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6-10 and 14-16 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 27, 2026.
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 1-5 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nakazawa et al. (“Synthesis of novel aluminosilicate YNU-5 and enhancement of the framework thermal stability by post-synthesis treatment”).
With regard to Claim 1, Nakazawa teaches a YFI-type zeolite (Page 67, “1. Introduction”; YNU-5 is a new large-pore aluminosilicate zeolite that we first synthesized very recently. This has a unique pore system that contains a 12−12−8-ring pore system and is highly attractive as an industrial catalyst or adsorbent).
Nakazawa teaches a mass of extra-framework aluminum at 56 ppm (“Fig. 10b”, Page 71; the samples other than highly dealuminated YNU-5 exhibit a shoulder peak at around 53 ppm accompanied by a major peak at around 56 ppm). Using a mole ratio of Si/Al = 39, as in “Fig. 10b”, aluminum is present at 1/39 x 100% = 2.56%. Then: 56ppm%/2.56%=0.0056/2.56=0.219%. Thus, Nakazawa teaches a ratio of a mass of extra-framework aluminum to a mass of contained aluminum of 0.219% by mass.
With regard to Claim 2, Nakazawa teaches molar ratios of silica to alumina of greater than 20 and less than 100, at nitric acid concentrations of 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 mol L-1 (“Fig. 6” of Nakazawa).
Nakazawa further teaches molar ratios of silica to alumina of 39 and 57 (“Fig. 10” of Nakazawa).
With regard to Claims 3 and 11, Nakazawa only discloses BET specific surface areas for Si/Al ratios of 8.3, 10, and 304 of 418, 469, and 464 m2/g respectively (“Fig. 11” of Nakazawa), and not those of "Fig. 10" of Si/Al ratios of 39 and 57. Nakazawa discloses that all of these materials are calcined, so given that the ratios lie within the range of "Fig. 11", one of ordinary skill in the art, absent evidence to the contrary, would expect the BET specific surface areas of Si/Al ratios of 39 and 57 to be between 300 and 700 m2/g. See MPEP 2112.V., "[T]he PTO can require an applicant to prove that the prior art products do not necessarily or inherently possess the characteristics of his [or her] claimed product. Whether the rejection is based on ‘inherency' under 35 U.S.C. 102, on ‘prima facie obviousness' under 35 U.S.C. 103, jointly or alternatively, the burden of proof is the same." The burden of proof is similar to that required with respect to product-by-process claims. In re Fitzgerald, 619 F.2d 67, 70, 205 USPQ 594, 596 (CCPA 1980) (quoting In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430,433-34 (CCPA 1977))".
With regard to Claims 4-5 and 12-13, Nakazawa teaches the YFI-type zeolite comprising potassium cations (Page 73, “3.2.3. Argon sorption behaviors”; we pointed out the isolated 8-ring straight channels of YNU-5 were filled with K+).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Usui et al. (US 2023/0234023 A1) teaches a YFI-type zeolite comprising an alkali metal and wherein the YFI-type zeolite is treated with hydrochloric acid. The reaction conditions are similar to Comparative Example 3 of the instant specification, so there would be no expectation of the zeolite having the claimed ratio of a mass of extra-framework aluminum to a mass of contained aluminum.
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/A.Y.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/RICHARD M RUMP/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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