Appeal 2006-3259
Application 09/785,188
macroporous gels can be made by introducing water-soluble
organic polymers to similar sols, with or without biological
materials present [Spec. at 4].
One method according to Appellants’ invention includes “hydrolyzing
a sol-gel precursor in water to form a sol containing an organic solvent;
removing said organic solvent from said hydrolyzed sol; and mixing said
biological material with said hydrolyzed sol after said removing step.” Id.
Another includes “hydrolyzing a sol-gel precursor in water to form a sol
containing an organic solvent” and “mixing said biological material with
said sol” without mention of removal of the organic solvent. Id. at 4-5.
The Rejected Claims
Claims 15-26, 28, 29 and 31-39 are pending and have been rejected
under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) based on various combinations of the following
references:
Hino et al. U.S. 4,148,689 Apr. 10, 1979
Uo et al., "Immobilization of Yeast Cells in Porous Silica Carrier with
Sol-Gel Process," Journal of the Ceramic Society of Japan, Vol. 100, No. 4
(1992), pp. 426-429.
Klein et al., "Effect of Water on Acid- and Base-Catalyzed Hydrolysis
of Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)," Better Ceramics Through Chemistry,
Vol. 32 (1984), pp. 33-39.
Rao et al., "Influence of Molar Ratios of Precursor, Catalyst, Solvent
and Water on Monolithicity and Physical Properties of TMOS Silica
Aerogels," Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology, Vol. 3 (1994),
pp. 205-217.
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