Appeal No. 2004-0275
Application No. 09/09/318,186
the examiner’s position that the instant claims are obvious in light of Welch, in
view of Liu, and further in view of Weingarten.
Welch teaches a method for rapid screening of libraries of candidate chiral
selectors using a parallel library. Answer, page 8. Microscale synthesis and
screening is performed by Welch to evaluate the enantioselectivity of the
candidate chiral stationary phases. Id. Welch uses libraries synthesized on
silica; therefore the reference lacks the teaching of using the polymeric synthesis
resins set forth in the instant claim. Id. Liu teaches that silica has
disadvantages such as nonspecific interactions and polymer beads have
desirable characteristics. Answer, page 10.
According to the examiner (Answer, pages 6-7):
[I]t would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
at the time the invention was made to make the library of chiral selectors
taught by Welch et al on amino functionalized polystyrene as taught by
Weingarten et al. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been
motivated to do so based on the teachings of Liu et al that using a polymer
support avoids the disadvantages of silica and allows for a potential
enhancement of enantioselectivity. Weingarten et al also teach that such
polymer supported materials can be easily synthesized and screened.
Moreover, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill
in the art at the time the invention was made to further use the identified
selectors in additional separations, as taught by Welsh [sic] et al.
We agree that the examiner has presented sufficient evidence to support
a prima facie case of obviousness. In particular, Welch describes a parallel
library system for use in the microscale synthesis and screening of chiral
molecule stationary phases which is very similar to the claimed invention.
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