Appeal 2007-0549
Application 10/399,312
through col. 2, l. 8). The compounds can be prepared by reacting
aminophenols with stilbene-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid or a derivative (e.g., an
ester or acid halide) (id. at col. 2, ll. 9-37). Liechti therefore uses reactants
encompassed by claim 1. Liechti discloses that suitable solvents are “high-
boiling, polar, organic solvents such, for example, as dimethyl formamide”
(id. at col. 2, ll. 47-49).
Like Liechti, Erckel describes the preparation of bis-benzoxazolyl-
stilbene compounds (Erckel, col. 1, l. 54, through col. 3, l. 6). Erckel’s
process includes the step of reacting an aminophenol with the acid chloride
of a benzoxazolyl-stilbene-carboxylic acid (id. at col. 2, ll. 33-51). Suitable
solvents are said to be “N,N-dialkyl-carboxylic acid amides, for example
dimethyl formamide, N-methylpyrrolidone, or hexamethyl-phosphoric acid
trisamide, preferably, however, N-methylpyrrolidone” (id. at col. 2, ll. 52-55
(emphasis added)).
Thus, as Appellants argue (Br. 6), Erckel discloses the equivalence of
N-methylpyrrolidone and dimethyl formamide in processes in which the bis-
benzoxazolyl compound is made by reacting the aminophenol with a
monocarboxylic acid chloride, while claim 1 recites a reaction involving the
dicarboxylic acid.
However, Liechti additionally states that the aminophenol may be
reacted with either “stilbene-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid or . . . a functional
derivative . . . especially . . . an acid halide such as the acid chloride . . .”
(Liechti, col. 2, ll. 8-16 (emphasis added)). Thus, based on Liechti’s
teachings, one of ordinary skill would have recognized that the same
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