Appeal No. 1996-1959
Application No. 07/946,546
Answer, page 3, line 13 through page 4, line 4, the Examiner reiterates her position
that the cited prior art anticipates claim 6 because both references disclose
dehydrogenated forms of ketoaldonic acids.
Appellants argue that the compounds of the cited prior art and of claim 6, are
isomers, “but not merely optical isomers” (Brief, page 2, bottom). At page 4 of the
Brief, Appellants illustrate the claimed compound (VIIIa, on the left) and the prior art
compound (3a, on the right). Comparison of substituent groups at a number of
carbon atoms of these compounds reveals that they are in opposite configuration,
(I or J). This observation is summarized in the table found at the bottom of page 4
of the Brief. The Reply Brief, page 6, discusses the same point, and illustrates an
alternative chair form of compound of VIII (VIIIb) in which the oxygen is placed in the
same position as the oxygen of the compound taught by both Schreiner and Schrell
to allow easier comparison between the two formulae. Comparing the substituents
of VIIIb and 5e, again, Appellants argue that at a number of carbon atoms, the
substituents occupy different positions in the two molecules.
The discussion at page 4 of the Reply Brief respecting Exhibits 1 and 3
(which illustrate the conventional nomenclature and numbering of carbohydrates)
addresses the significance of the positioning of substituents:
[t]hose structures represent glucose as compared to galactose,
mannose, idose, allose, altrose, talose, or gulose because of the projections
of the hydroxyls above or below the plane of the depicted ring. In galactose,
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