Appeal No. 2006-1660
Application No. 10/609,087
We now turn to the examiner's § 102/§ 103 rejection of
claims 42-50 and 70-72 over Campbell. Campbell, like appellants
and Senga, discloses a process for forming PPS polymers
utilizing the same reaction scheme. However, while Campbell
exemplifies isolating the aminoalkanoate intermediate, we find
that the reference also provides a description of the claimed
process within the meaning of § 102. As noted by the examiner,
Campbell expressly discloses that the solution of alkali metal
aminoalkanoate, NMP, and alkali metal hydroxide "is a
particularly useful solution which can be used for many chemical
conversions such as, for example, in the preparation of arylene
sulfide polymers such as poly(p-phenylene sulfide) from alkali
metal bisulfides such as sodium bisulfide and polyhalo-
substituted aromatic compounds such as 1,4-dichlorobenzine"
(column 5, lines 31-37). Moreover, based on the entirety of the
Campbell disclosure, we are convinced that it would have been
obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to prepare the PPS
polymers without isolating the aminoalkanoate intermediate, as
presently claimed. Regarding appellants' argument that Campbell
does not teach the claimed pressure range from atmospheric
pressure to about 30 psig during the second dehydration step of
claim 49, we find no error in the examiner's reasoning that
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