Appeal No. 95-2074
Application 08/170,985
§ 1.192(c)(5)(1994); now 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7). Accordingly, for
purposes of this appeal, we will consider the issues as they
apply to representative claim 3, which reads as follows:
3. A process for preparing a tertiary phosphine which
comprises: heating a phosphine dihalide in the presence of
silicon powder at a temperature of from 100 to 300EC to reduce
the phosphine dihalide to the tertiary phosphine.
The references relied on by the examiner are:
Silicon Monoxide, Merck Index (Merck and Co., Rahway, NJ), 9th
ed., p. 1099 (1976).
Natoli 1,259,883 Feb. 01, 1968
(German Patent)
Claims 3 and 4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Natoli in view of Merck.2
We reverse.
The examiner predicates his conclusion of obviousness on
Natoli, a German patent application which discloses a method of
reducing a phosphine dihalide to a tertiary phosphine in the
presence of a metal such as aluminum, and Merck which states that
silicons may be used “[a]s a reducing agent like aluminum in high
temp[erature] reactions.” Merck, p. 1099, col. 1. The examiner
concludes on p. 4 of the Answer that
2Our decision is based on a certified copy of the German
patent application, which is of record in the file.
2
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