Appeal No. 1996-1284 Application No. 08/084,685 polymerized with a lithium initiator, the improvement comprising polymerizing at least 5% by weight of the monomers in a non-polar solvent prior to addition of a sufficient amount of tetramethylethylenediamine to achieve 1,2-addition of at least 60%, and then slowly adding the remaining portion of the monomers to maintain a reaction temperature from 10EC to 40EC. The examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of obviousness: Hall 4,429,091Jan. 31, 1984 Phillips Petroleum 884,490 Dec. 13, 1961 (GB '490)1 Van Amerongen et al. 1,283,327 Jul. 26, 1972 (Van Amerongen)2 Appealed claims 1-3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Van Amerongen and GB '490 in view of Hall. Appellant's claimed invention is directed to a process for preparing a random copolymer of a conjugated diene and a vinyl aromatic compound, such as styrene. The process entails employing tetramethylethylenediamine as a modifier in the reaction process. 1(Great Britain patent specification) 2(Great Britain patent specification) -2-Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007