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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NISSAN CHEM. IND., LTD. (JP 11-43319 A) {hereinafter Nissan-JP} in view of NISSAN CHEM. IND., LTD. (WO 2014/199903 A1) {hereinafter Nissan-WO}.
Regarding claims 1-10, Nissan-JP discloses a method for producing hydrophobic organosilica sol indicates in, for instance, example 5 that to 500 g of methanol silica sol (SiO2 concentration: 30% by weight, water content: 1.7% by weight, pH when diluted with the equal amount of distilled water: 3.4, particle diameter: 12 nm) was added 7.9 g of 1,3-di(n-butyl) tetramethyldisiloxane dissolved in 20 g of diisopropyl ether, the mixture was stirred and then allowed to stand at room temperature for 10 days for aging to obtain a silylated silica sol which was distilled under reduced pressure of 120 Torr (0.015 MPa) to concentrate until the SiO2 concentration was about 30% by weight, 420 g of n-butyl acetate was added, distillation under reduced pressure was continued at pressure of 120 Torr (0.015 MPa) while adding n-butyl acetate so that the SiO2 concentration in the sol was approximately constant, thereby obtaining butyl acetate-dispersed hydrophobic organosilica sol (SiO2 concentration: 30% by weight, specific gravity: 1.077, viscosity: 1.47 mPa·s, water content: 0.2% by weight, methanol concentration: 0.8% by weight). Nissan-JP further discloses that the purpose is to efficiently produce silica sol having low viscosity, hydrophilic colloidal silica has a particle diameter of 5-500 nm, more preferably 5-100 nm, a solvent of the organosilica sol is particularly preferably a carboxylic ester compound or the like and a silylating agent used may be hexamethyldisiloxane. Consequently, Nissan-JP further discloses hydrophobic organosilica sol dispersed in a carboxylic ester compound such as butyl acetate, comprising silica having a particle diameter of 5-100 nm and being silylated with a silylating agent such as hexamethyldisiloxane and a carboxylic ester compound such as n-butyl acetate, and a method for producing hydrophobic organosilica sol dispersed in a carboxylic ester compound such as butyl acetate, comprising preparing methanol silica sol containing silica having a particle diameter of 5-100 nm, silylating the silica with a silylating agent such as hexamethyldisiloxane to obtain silylated silica sol, subjecting the silylated silica sol to distillation under reduced pressure for concentration, adding the carboxylic ester compound such as n-butyl acetate and continuing distillation under reduced pressure. The silylated silica disclosed in Nissan-JP can be said to have, according to the production method thereof, Si-OCH3 derived from methanol and Si-OC4H9 derived from n-butyl acetate on the surface or in the vicinity thereof, and the molar ratio Si-OC4H9/Si-OCH3 can be said to satisfy a wide specified range [paragraphs [0017], [0035], [0040], [0041], [0045], examples 2, 5 & US 6025455 A, claims, column 4, lines 41-44, column 8, lines 42-54, column 9, lines 32-45, column 10, lines 18-26, examples 2, 5 & incorporated reference EP 881192 A1].
Nissan-JP is silent as to whether the method contains an amine or not.
Nissan-WO teaches a silica sol inclusion of an organic base compound can adjust pH of a medium and prevent the medium from being acidic, thereby stabilizing silica sol, the content of the organic base compound is preferably maintained at a minimum required amount for stabilizing the silica sol, the organic base compound is added after obtaining silica particles, the organic base compound is more preferably at least one of secondary amine and tertiary amine and may be diisopropylamine, tripentylamine or trioctylamine, and the medium used may be an ester such as butyl acetate [paragraphs [0044]-[0050], [0052]-[0056] & incorporated references US 2016/0130152 A1 & EP 3009398 A1, paragraphs [0041]-[0047], [0049]-[0053] & CN 105283413 A & KR 10-2016-0018746 A & TW 201509808 A].
At the time of the invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify Nissan-JP by adding a minimum required amount of diisopropylamine or the like which is the organic base compound to the silica sol, and when adding a minimum required amount of diisopropylamine or the like which does not cause the pH to shift to acidic, the silica sol can be said to have a pH around neutral as described by Nissan-WO in order to stabilize the hydrophobic organosilica sol dispersed in a carboxylic ester compound.
Specifically regarding method claim 9, although the Nissan-JP/Nissan-WO combination is silent as to whether an amine is added after the step for coating the silica particles with the silane compound and before adding the carboxylic ester to the silica sol, Nissan-WO further discloses that diisopropylamine or the like which is the organic base compound that may stabilize the silica sol is added after silica particles are obtained. Therefore, it could have been obvoius to add diisopropylamine or the like which is the organic base compound after obtaining silica particles in order to stabilize the silica sol in the invention disclosed in Nissan-JP, and the addition could have been carried out, as appropriate, immediately before addition of a carboxylic ester compound such as n-butyl acetate to the silica sol and distillation under reduced pressure. No significant effect can be found for adding diisopropylamine which is the organic base compound to the silica sol immediately before addition of a carboxylic ester compound such as n-butyl acetate to the silica sol and distillation under reduced pressure.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Seumura (US 2010/0311871), Hashemzadeh (US 2019/0241719), Suzuki (US 2013/0172599), Nishimura (US 2020/0131044), Simizu (US 2013/0156834), and Yano (US 2012/0256336) disclose resins/films comprising a silica sol with a carboxylic acid ester similar to that of the claimed invention.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE A ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-1184. The examiner can normally be reached M-F ~10-6.
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KYLE ARMSTRONG, P.E.
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3678
/KYLE ARMSTRONG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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