DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-8 are pending as filed on 2/25/2025.
NOTE: the Examiner assigned to this application has changed.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group III (claim 8) in the reply filed on 7/27/2026 is acknowledged. The election of species requirement set forth on pp 4-5 of the 6/1/26 action does not apply to the elected invention.
Claims 1-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 § 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.
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zalusky et al (Ordered Nanoporous Polymers from Polystyrene−Polylactide Block Copolymers, J. AM. CHEM. SOC. 2002, 124, 12761-12773).
Zalusky discloses PS-PLA in figure 2 on p 12765, as copied below:
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Zalusky’s PS-PLA has a structure according to instant formula A2:
instant Ra1 is met by the sec-butyl end group in the PS-PLA;
the instant building block subscripted “n” is met by the PS repeating units in PS-PLA (wherein instant Ra2 is hydrogen and instant Ra3 is phenyl). As evidenced by the Mn of the PS segments disclosed in Table 2 on p 12763, “n” in Zalusky’s PS-PLA must be greater than 2;
instant Ra4 is met by the -(CH2)2- group between the PS segments and the PLA segments;
instant Ra5 is met by the residue of the PLA (a linear aliphatic polyester), with the exception that the terminal lactic acid unit in Zalusky’s PLA block is not considered part of instant Ra5;
instant Ra6 is met by the -C(CH3)- group of the terminal lactic acid unit in Zalusky’s PLA block;
instant Ra7 is met by the OH (hydroxy) end group of Zalusky’s PS-PLA block copolymer.
To help illustrate the correspondence between Zalusky’s PLA and instant formula A2 as set forth above, the Examiner has modified the drawing of Zalusky’s PS-PLA copolymer to show the terminal lactic acid unit as a separate structure from the rest of the repeating lactide units in the PLA block (the expanded PS-PLA structure shown below and the PS-PLA structure in Zalusky’s Figure 2 represent the same polymer). The structure to the left of the box below corresponds to the segment Ra1-(-CH2-CRa2Ra3-)n-Ra4-O- within instant formula A2; the structure within the box below corresponds to (-CO-Ra5-O) in formula A2; and the structure to the right of the box corresponds to -CO-Ra6-Ra7 of instant formula A2:
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL KAHN whose telephone number is (571)270-7346. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski can be reached at 571-272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RACHEL KAHN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766
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