Appeal No. 94-2414
Application 07/911,504
THE REJECTION OF PRODUCT-BY-PROCESS CLAIMS 32 AND 34
Appellants characterize the present invention as directed to
a silica gel made according to a “novel method” which is
presented in U.S. Patent No. 5,158,758. No method claim in that
patent, however, is directed to the specific method which now
defines the product of claims 32 and 34 in this appeal. As
evident from respective steps (f) and (g) of method claims 31 and
33, the silica gel defined by product-by-process claims 32 and 34
is, in actuality, a silica gel bonded by a quantity of
organochlorosilane. This bonded form of silica gel is said to be
especially useful for reverse phase liquid chromatography (RPLC).
See the specification at page 13, lines 9-11.
Appellants submit (brief, page 9) that the silica gel
defined by claims 32 and 34 is distinguishable from Jacques,
Hench and Colin “singly or in combination” because the claims
require a “dry gel having essentially one form of silanol
moiety”. This language appears in the respective processes as
step (e) of claim 31 and step (f) of claim 33 as part of a
claimed drying step, i.e. “drying said washed gel to obtain dry
gel having essentially one form of silanol moiety”. It is noted,
however, that the dried gel is then subjected to reaction with a
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