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
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 11-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kreczinski et al. (US 10,611,782) in view of Stanjek et al. (US 8,158,818).
The claims are drawn to a method for preparing isocyantoalkylalkoxysilanes
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Kreczinski et al. teaches a process for preparing isocyanates containing alkoxysilane groups by a series of steps comprising, (a) reacting a haloalkylalkoxysilane with a metal cyanate and an alcohol to form an alkoxysilanoalkylurethane; (b) freeing the alkoxysilanoalkyl urethane from low/high boilers, solids, and salts, followed by distillation, e.g., by thin film evaporation; (c) thermally cleaving the alkoxysilanoalkylurethane to form the isocyanatoalkylalkoxysilane, and then (d), separating the target compound and by-products and from bottoms material and collected (abstract).
Step (a) may be conducted in the presence of an aprotic solvent, e.g., dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, dimethyl carbonate, and mixtures thereof.
Distillation of alkoxysilanoalkylurethane in step (b) may be conducted at pressures from 20-800 mar, preferably from 40-600 mbar, and temperatures from 40-200°C, most preferably from 40-180°C (col. 3, line 65 to col. 6, line 55; examples). The process steps may be conducted continuously, such that bottom material containing alcohol may be fed back to a previous step.
The difference between Kreczinski et al. and the present invention is that the reference does not expressly teach that step (b) is conducted in an evaporator wherein the silane is vaporized in a layer thickness of not more than 5 cm; however, Stanjek et al. teach a process for preparing isocyanatoorganosilanes, wherein a thin film evaporator is used to evaporate the carbamate-functional silane (i.e., the alkoxysilanoalkylurethane taught by Kreczinski et al.) having a thickness not exceeding 5cm is used (col, 2, lines 38-49).
The instant claims are therefore rendered obvious in view of the combined reference teachings, since Stanjek et al. teaches the same vaporization step as recited by Kreczinski et al. and teaches parameters of the thin film vaporizer that may be used in both references, and renders the instant claims obvious.
Claim 20 is 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SIKARL A WITHERSPOON whose telephone number is (571)272-0649. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am-9pm IFP.
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/SIKARL A WITHERSPOON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692
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