DETAILED ACTION
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 for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 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 nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 7-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei et al. (US 2025/0208084, provisional filing date April 1, 2022) in view of Fuhrmann et al. (EP 3537153).
Claims 1, 3-4 and 14. Wei et al. teach an ion-selective membrane (protective membrane 16) comprising, a polymer (PVC, ethylene polymer) and a membrane solvent (plasticizer, trioctyl trimellitate (TOTM) [0038], the membrane solvent satisfying CLogP>9 (logP is 13.35, see attach ChemSpider Data Sheet) and including a compound represented by the following structure:
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Wherein X1 is an alkyl ester group having 8 carbon atoms, X2, X3, X5 are each independently a hydrogen atom and X4 and X6 is an alkyl ester group having 8 carbon atoms.
Wei et al. teach hydrogen ionophore, tridodecylamine is present in the membrane [0038] but do not teach ionophore of a metal porphyrin compound in the membrane. Wei et al. teach potentiometric sensor could be used for other ionic analytes by using different formulation of protective membranes [0024].
However, Fuhrmann et al. teach test strip comprised of analyte selective electrode for detecting anions such as chloride or hydrogen [0028][0091] comprised of polymer matrix [0032] chloride selective carrier molecule such a metal porphyrin [0073] and plasticizer [0094].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention in view of Fuhrmann et al. teaching to substitute hydrogen ionophore with chloride ionophore/carrier in Wei et al. protective membrane to form chloride selective membrane based sensor.
Claim 2. Wei et al. teach formula as above in rejection of claim 1,
X1 is an alkyl ester group having 8 carbon atoms, and X4, is an alkyl ester group having 8 carbon atoms.
Claim 5. Wei et al. teach formula as above in rejection of claim 1 which satisfies formula (2)
X7 alkyl ester group which has a hydrophobicity constant of aromatic substituent is 0.
X8 and X9 are each independently a hydrogen atom,
R1 to R8 are each independently an alkyl group having 8 carbon atoms.
Claim 7. Modifed Wei et al. teach the polymer is a polymer having a cross-linked structure (polymer is cured/crosslinked with curing agent; see page 38).
Claim 8. Modified Wei et al. teach the ion-selective membrane is a chloride ion-selective membrane (see rejection of claim 1 above).
Claims 9 and 10. Wei et al. teach comprising an ionic additive (organic salt such as tetraarylborate salt [0030].
Claim 11. Wei et al. teach an ion-selective electrode comprising the ion-selective membrane according to claim 1 applied to an electrode configured of at least one type of conductor (the protective membrane is applied to working electrode; [0030]).
Claim 12. Wei et al. ion sensor comprising the ion-selective electrode according to claim 11, a reference electrode, and a measurement device configured to measure a potential difference between the ion-selective electrode and the reference electrode (potentiometric sensor comprised of working electrode and reference electrode; [0025] and meter to measure potential between the electrodes; [0029]).
Claim 13. Wei et al. teach specimen testing device comprising the ion-selective electrode according to claim 11 and a mechanism for supplying a specimen to the ion-selective electrode (the biologic media or cell culture are applied to working electrode for measuring pH; [0034]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 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.
Conclusion
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/GURPREET KAUR/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1759
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