CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
Note(s) [2009.01]
- In section C, the definitions of groups of chemical elements are as follows:
- Alkali metals: Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr
- Alkaline earth metals: Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra
- Lanthanides: elements with atomic numbers 57 to 71 inclusive
- Rare earths: Sc, Y, Lanthanides
- Actinides: elements with atomic numbers 89 to 103 inclusive
- Refractory metals: Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta, W
- Halogens: F, Cl, Br, I, At
- Noble gases: He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn
- Platinum group: Os, Ir, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd
- Noble metals: Ag, Au, Platinum group
- Light metals: alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, Be, Al, Mg
- Heavy metals: metals other than light metals
- Iron group: Fe, Co, Ni
- Non-metals: H, B, C, Si, N, P, O, S, Se, Te, noble gases, halogens
- Metals: elements other than non-metals
- Transition elements: elements with atomic numbers 21 to 30 inclusive, 39 to 48 inclusive, 57 to 80 inclusive, 89 upwards
- Section C covers :
- pure chemistry, which covers inorganic compounds, organic compounds, macromolecular compounds, and their methods of preparation;
- applied chemistry, which covers compositions containing the above compounds, such as: glass, ceramics, fertilisers, plastics compositions, paints, products of the petroleum industry. It also covers certain compositions on account of their having particular properties rendering them suitable for certain purposes, as in the case of explosives, dyestuffs, adhesives, lubricants, and detergents;
- certain marginal industries, such as the manufacture of coke and of solid or gaseous fuels, the production and refining of oils, fats and waxes, the fermentation industry (e.g., brewing and wine-making), the sugar industry;
- certain operations or treatments, which are either purely mechanical, e.g., the mechanical treatment of leather and skins, or partly mechanical, e.g., the treatment of water or the prevention of corrosion in general;
- metallurgy, ferrous or non-ferrous alloys.
- In all sections of the IPC, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, the Periodic System of chemical elements referred to is the one with 18 groups as represented in the table below.
- In the case of operations, treatments, products or articles having both a chemical and a non-chemical part or aspect, the general rule is that the chemical part or aspect is covered by section C.
- In some of these cases, the chemical part or aspect brings with it a non-chemical one, even though purely mechanical, because this latter aspect either is essential to the operation or treatment or constitutes an important element thereof. It has seemed, in fact, more logical not to dissociate the different parts or aspects of a coherent whole. This is the case for applied chemistry and for the industries, operations and treatments mentioned in Notes (1)(c), (d) and (e). For example, furnaces peculiar to the manufacture of glass are covered by class C03 and not by class F27.
- There are, however, some exceptions in which the mechanical (or non-chemical) aspect carries with it the chemical aspect, for example:
- Certain extractive processes, in subclass A61K;
- The chemical purification of air, in subclass A61L;
- Chemical methods of fire-fighting, in subclass A62D;
- Chemical processes and apparatus, in class B01;
- Impregnation of wood, in subclass B27K;
- Chemical methods of analysis or testing, in subclass G01N;
- Photographic materials and processes, in class G03, and, generally, the chemical treatment of textiles and the production of cellulose or paper, in section D.
- In still other cases, the pure chemical aspect is covered by section C and the applied chemical aspect by another section, such as A, B or F, e.g., the use of a substance or composition for:
- When the chemical and mechanical aspects are so closely interlocked that a neat and simple division is not possible, or when certain mechanical processes follow as a natural or logical continuation of a chemical treatment, section C may cover, in addition to the chemical aspect, a part only of the mechanical aspect, e.g., after-treatment of artificial stone, covered by class C04. In this latter case, a note or a reference is usually given to make the position clear, even if sometimes the division is rather arbitrary.
CHEMISTRY
BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
Note(s) [5]
- Between subclasses C12M-C12Q, and within each of these subclasses, the last place priority rule is applied, i.e. at each hierarchical level, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, classification is made in the last appropriate place. For example, a fermentation or enzyme-using process involving condition-responsive control is classified in subclass C12Q.
- In this class, viruses, undifferentiated human, animal or plant cells, protozoa, tissues and unicellular algae are considered as microorganisms.
- In this class, unless specifically provided for, undifferentiated human, animal or plant cells, protozoa, tissues and unicellular algae are classified together with microorganisms. Sub-cellular parts, unless specifically provided for, are classified with the whole cell.
- The codes of subclass C12R are only for use as indexing codes associated with subclasses C12C-C12Q, so as to provide information concerning the microorganisms used in the processes classified in these subclasses.
MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEIC ACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS (immunoassay G01N 33/53); COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL OR ENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES [3]
Note(s) [6]
- This subclass does not cover the observation of the progress or of the result of processes specified in this subclass by any of the methods specified in groups G01N 3/00-G01N 29/00, which is covered by subclass G01N.
- In this subclass, the following expression is used with the meaning indicated:
- "involving", when used in relation to a substance, includes the testing for the substance as well as employing the substance as a determinant or reactant in a test for a different substance.
- Attention is drawn to Notes (1) to (3) following the title of class C12.
- In this subclass, test media are classified in the appropriate group for the relevant test process.
- In this subclass, it is desirable to add the indexing codes of subclass C12R.
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Determining presence or kind of microorganism; Use of selective media for testing antibiotics or bacteriocides; Compositions containing a chemical indicator therefor [2006.01]
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Quantitative determination [2006.01]
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using multifield media [2006.01]
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Enterobacteria [2006.01]
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Nitrate to nitrite reducing bacteria [2006.01]
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Streptococcus; Staphylococcus [2006.01]
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using multifield media [2006.01]
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Testing for sterility conditions [2006.01]
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Methods of sampling, or inoculating or spreading a sample; Methods of physically isolating an intact microorganism [2006.01]
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Geomicrobiological testing, e.g. for petroleum [2006.01]
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Note(s) [2018.01]
- In this group, classification is made according to the most relevant feature irrespective of the last place priority rule.
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Preparing nucleic acids for analysis, e.g. for polymerase chain reaction [PCR] assay (C12Q 1/6804 takes precedence) [2018.01]
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Methods for determination or identification of nucleic acids involving differential detection [2018.01]
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Selection methods for production or design of target specific oligonucleotides or binding molecules [2018.01]
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Hybridisation assays [2018.01]
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characterised by the detection means (C12Q 1/6804 takes precedence) [2018.01]
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involving interaction of two or more labels, e.g. resonant energy transfer [2018.01]
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Signal amplification [2018.01]
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Release of bound markers [2018.01]
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Nucleic acid detection involving sensors [2018.01]
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for detection of mutation or polymorphism [2018.01]
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involving restriction enzymes, e.g. restriction fragment length polymorphism [RFLP] [2018.01]
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Enhancement of hybridisation reaction [2018.01]
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Enzymatic or biochemical coupling of nucleic acids to a solid phase [2018.01]
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using probe arrays or probe chips (C12Q 1/6874 takes precedence) [2018.01]
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Triple helix formation or other higher order conformations in hybridisation assays [2018.01]
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In situ hybridisation [2018.01]
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Nucleic acid amplification reactions [2018.01]
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characterised by the means for preventing contamination or increasing the specificity or sensitivity of an amplification reaction [2018.01]
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Quantitative amplification [2018.01]
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using modified primers or templates [2018.01]
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Ligating adaptors [2018.01]
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Allele-specific amplification [2018.01]
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Polymerase chain reaction [PCR] [2018.01]
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Ligase chain reaction [LCR] [2018.01]
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Promoter-based amplification, e.g. nucleic acid sequence-based amplification [NASBA], self-sustained sequence replication [3SR] or transcription-based amplification system [TAS] [2018.01]
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Replicase-based amplification, e.g. using Q-beta replicase [2018.01]
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Methods for sequencing [2018.01]
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involving mass spectrometry [2018.01]
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involving nucleic acid arrays, e.g. sequencing by hybridisation [SBH] [2018.01]
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Nucleic acid products used in the analysis of nucleic acids, e.g. primers or probes [2018.01]
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for sex determination [2018.01]
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for tissue or cell typing, e.g. human leukocyte antigen [HLA] probes [2018.01]
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for diseases caused by alterations of genetic material [2018.01]
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for cancer (immunoassay for cancer G01N 33/574) [2018.01]
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for detection or identification of organisms [2018.01]
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for bacteria [2018.01]
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for protozoa [2018.01]
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for plants, fungi or algae [2018.01]
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involving reporter genes operably linked to promoters [2018.01]
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