Appeal 2007-0535
Application 10/601,731
With the required full presence of dicarboxylic acid form, the
skilled chemist reading this reference would not be motivated to
neutralize to any extent that does not involve the presence of
acid form. . . . Hence there can be no motivation to the skilled
chemist to achieve a mixed mono- and di-salt. This chemist
would know that free acid according to Jokura must be present
and such cannot occur with any di-salt in the formula.
(Id. at 9.)
We are not persuaded by this argument. We find that the Examiner
has set forth adequate scientific reasoning to support the conclusion that
Jokura discloses mixtures of partially and fully neutralized acid.
In particular, the Examiner reasons that the “free acid, partially
neutralized acid, and fully neutralized acid, exist in solution in equilibrium
with one another, with the concentration of the different forms being
governed by the individual Ka of each neutralization reaction” (Answer 10).
In support of this position, the Examiner points to equilibrium equations that
are well known in the art, as evidenced by the attached excerpt from a
chemistry textbook.2 These equations support the Examiner’s conclusion
that malonic acid, at pHs in the range disclosed by Jokura, provides a
solution containing “fully neutralized acid” and “partially neutralized acid”
in equilibrium with one another (“fully neutralized acid”/“partially
neutralized acid” = Ka2/[H+]) and “partially neutralized acid” and “free acid”
in equilibrium with one another (“partially neutralized acid”/“free acid” =
Ka1/[H+]) and therefore provides a solution containing “fully neutralized
acid,” “partially neutralized acid,” and “free acid.”
2 Ronald J. Gillespie et al., Chemistry 516-520, 524-525, & 550-551 (1986)
(copy attached).
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