Oifig na bPaitinní
Irish Patents Office
Project: M 710
Rapporteur Proposal
Rapporteur was requested to examine the suitability of the reference in C07C 69/00, pointing to
‘the relevant groups’, to se whether the reference could be replaced by a note or by a proper
limiting reference.
The group C07C 69/00 exists under a guidance heading for the groups from C07C 27/00 to C07C
71/00, concerning compounds containing carbon and oxygen, with or without hydrogen or
halogens, and currently reads as follows:
C07C 69/00
Esters of carboxylic acids; Esters of carbonic or haloformic acids (ortho esters,
see the relevant groups, e.g. C07C 43/32)
Orthoesters (orthoformates) are ‘ethers’ of the hypothetical compound HC(OH)3. They are often
formed to protect ester groups in organic synthesis, being easily hydrolysable to form esters.
They comprise the group indicated by the second structural diagram in group C07C 43/00.
Orthocarbonates are similar compounds, based on the hypothetical parent C(OH)4.
Orthoesters are not ‘esters of carboxylic acids’: nor are they esters of carbonic acid ( which are of
the formula O=C(OR)2), nor of haloformic acid (which would be of the formula O=C(OR)X, X
being the halogen). Therefore the note is not limiting, but should be considered informative. It is
probably in the scheme to avoid confusion among users as to the distinction between traditional
esters and orthoesters (note the partition of the term in the reference into two words ‘ortho esters’,
which lends itself to this interpretation).
The groups relevant to the existing reference are:
C07C 43/32
Orthoesters
C07C 47/198
C07C 47/277
C07C 47/37
C07C 47/47
C07C 47/575
aldehydes containing orthoester moieties
C07C 49/175
C07C 49/255
C07C 49/35
C07C 49/517
ketones containing orthoester moieties
C07C 49/577
C07C 49/753
C07C 49/84
C07C 59/125
C07C 59/305
C07C 59/58
compounds having carboxyl groups bound
to acyclic carbon atoms containing further
orthocarbonate moieties
C07C 62/08
C07C 62/34
compounds having carboxyl groups bound
to non-aromatic cyclic carbon atoms
containing further orthocarbonate moieties
C07C 65/21
compounds having carboxyl groups bound
to C6-aromatic carbon atoms containing
further orthocarbonate moieties
Since 19 potential groups are involved, if a reference in the scheme is desirable, the present
reference is probably the least unwieldy way to do this. A note for group C07C 69/00 might
suffice along the lines of:
Orthoesters (esters of orthoformic acid) are not classified in this group, but are classified
either in C07C 43/32 (orthocarbonates per se), or in the last relevant subgroups of C07C
47/00, C07C 49/00 or C07C 59/00, according to the last place rule, if the compound
further contains –CHO, >CO or carboxyl moieties.
However, since the reference is not limiting, replacing it with a note gives it far more weight than
it merits.
It is interesting to note that a comparable note has not been deemed necessary in group C07C
68/00 (preparation of esters of carbonic or haloformic acid), directing the user to group C07C
41/00 (preparation of, inter alia, orthoesters). The relationship is the same, and the wordings
used in the group titles are analogous.
Core level users are less served by the note than AL users, (the relevant subgroups of C07C
47/00, C07C 49/00 and C07C 59/00 are not presented to CL users), though if they are strictly
adhering to the last place rule (as per note 3 after the class title), their distribution of documents
should follow that of the AL.
Accordingly, the best recommendation would be to suppress the reference (it is not limiting),
and to add further information in the definition layer, perhaps by incorporating a definition of an
orthoester, or otherwise distinguishing orthoesters from traditional ones.
______________________________
Fergal Brady
Irish Patents Office