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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-4 filed on 02/29/2024 are currently pending.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claim 4 in the reply filed on 08/07/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-3 are withdrawn by the examiner from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The limitation “dinitrophenylhydrazine derivative of 6-hydroxy-2-hexanone” renders claim 4 vague and indefinite because the exact structure of dinitrophenylhydrazine derivative of 6-hydroxy-2-hexanone cannot be deciphered.
Furthermore, the parenthetical limitations " length of 30 m×inner diameter of 0.25 mm×film thickness of 0.25 μm", “Analysis Condition”, “particle diameter: 5 μm, inner diameter×length=4.6 mm×25 cm, pore size: 100 Å, surface coating level: 2.7 μmol/m2, surface area: 450 m2/g, metal impurity: less than 5 ppm, carbon content: 19.5%”, and “volume ratio” render the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations are part of the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
The subject matter of claim 4 is free of prior art. The closest prior art reference is Suguri (Suguri, A. et al. Patent application publication number US2023/0227389A1, effective filing date May 18, 2021).
Suguri teaches a product 1,3-butylene glycol, in which 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine derivatives of 2-(hydroxyethyl)-2,6-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane have a weight proportion of 90 ppm or less, as calculated from a sum of absorbance of peaks thereof in an HPLC analysis under specific conditions after specific sample preparation. However, the reference fails to teach the instantly claimed product 1,3-butylene glycol, wherein an area percentage of a peak of 1,3-butylene glycol in a gas chromatography analysis is 99.5% or more, and a weight fraction of a dinitrophenylhydrazine derivative of 6-hydroxy-2-hexanone in an HPLC analysis under is 18.0 ppm or less. Furthermore, a skilled artisan would not have been motivated in modifying the teachings of Suguri to reasonably arrive at the instantly claimed product 1,3-butylene glycol.
Thus, claim 4 is deemed novel and unobvious over the closest prior art reference.
Conclusion
Claim 4 is rejected.
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/MEDHANIT W BAHTA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
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