Ex Parte Bottcher et al - Page 7

                Appeal 2007-0736                                                                                
                Application 10/480,239                                                                          
                ruthenium catalyst with “particularly preferred” hydrogen at a temperature                      
                of from 100 deg. to 500 deg. (col. 3, ll. 54-64).                                               
                       12.  The removal of the solvent step is performed at a temperature                       
                “below 200˚C,” e.g., at ambient (see col. 5, ll. 32-33 (“water was removed                      
                by a rotary evaporator”)); further the skilled artisan would have known to                      
                keep the drying step below 200˚C “to avoid damaging the activity of the                         
                catalyst.”  (Answer 10.)                                                                        
                       13.  None of the references expressly teaches using “a halogen-free                      
                aqueous solution” to make the claimed catalyst; however, the skilled artisan                    
                would have known the advantages of using a halogen-free system to avoid                         
                poisoning the catalyst, as evidenced by the prior art teachings.  (See, e.g.,                   
                Schuster, col. 1, ll. 36-40 (“chlorine (either covalently bonded or as                          
                chlorine), poison[s] the catalyst and thus makes it impossible to reuse it”).)                  
                       14.  The silicon dioxide support material disclosed in Shokal and                        
                Setoyama can only be amorphous or crystalline, or a combination of these                        
                two forms; thus, given the very small number of species, disclosure of                          
                silicon dioxide is a disclosure of both “species,” amorphous silicon dioxide                    
                and crystalline silicon dioxide.  See In re Schaumann, 572 F.2d 312, 316-17,                    
                197 USPQ 5, 9 (CCPA 1978); In re Petering, 301 F.2d 676, 681, 133 USPQ                          
                275, 280 (CCPA 1962).                                                                           
                Other Findings                                                                                  
                       15.  The skilled artisan would have been motivated to combine the                        
                teachings of the three references in that each discloses a process for                          
                hydrogenating an aromatic hydrocarbon using a ruthenium catalyst on an                          
                inert support.  (FFs 6-12.)                                                                     



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