Appeal No. 1998-2801
Application No. 08/789,160
subject matter. Accordingly, we will not sustain the
examiner's rejection for essentially those reasons expressed
in appellants' principal and reply briefs on appeal. We add
the following primarily for emphasis.
Streck, the primary reference, discloses a method of
treating polychlorinated aromatic compounds by reacting the
compounds with alkali or alkaline earth alcoholates having 6-
25 carbon atoms. Streck specifically teaches the following at
column 3, lines 36-41:
An important criterion for the present
method is that the alcoholate employed be
soluble in the hydrocarbon oils under the
given reaction conditions. This solubility
criterion is met by all alcoholates having
straight-chain, branched, or cyclic alkyl
groups with at least 6 carbon atoms [emphasis
added].
Accordingly, it cannot be gainsaid that Streck fails to teach
or suggest the claimed reactant, potassium tert-butoxide.
Peterson, on the other hand, discloses that potassium
tert-butoxide is the most preferable alcoholate used for
treating polychlorinated aromatic compounds. However, the
reaction of Peterson is carried out with a sulfoxide solvent,
and Peterson expressly discloses that "[t]he extraction rate
of the contaminant from the organic phase by the sulfoxide
-3-
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