Appeal No. 95-4762
Application No. 08/086,885
Opinion, each reference is considered individually, in
combination with the others and to the claimed subject matter.
Of the four references relied upon by the examiner in
his rejection, Cram and Pfizer are directed to well known
methods for the formation of anhydrides. Cram is a textbook
reference which teaches anhydride formation by heating an acid
with an acidic dehydrating agent such as phosphorous
pentoxide. There is no disclosure of clay catalyst present.
Pfizer discloses the formation of itaconic anhydride by
dehydration of itaconic acid in the presence of sulfuric acid
or a monoalkali metal salt thereof. There is likewise no
disclosure of clay catalyst being present. We conclude that
neither reference is relevant to the claimed subject matter
other than providing background information.
British Petroleum and McCabe appear to be the more
relevant references. British Petroleum discloses the instant
clays of appellants' invention. See British Petroleum pages 2
and 3. As disclosed therein a typical clay, montmorillonite,
comprises a central octahedral coordination layer sandwiched
between two tetrahedral layers as required by claim 1. The
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