Application of Eugene J. Lorand and John E. Reese (Deceased) (Hercules Powder Company, Assignee, Substituted)

SMITH, Judge.

This appeal is from the decision of the Board of Appeals affirming the examiner’s rejection of claims 26 through 32 of appellant’s patent application on a process for oxidizing cumene to produce cumene hydroperoxide.

Claim 26 is representative of the claims on appeal and reads:

“26. The process of oxidizing cumene which comprises adding a peroxidic oxidation initiator to a reaction mixture comprising essentially cumene in liquid phase and intimately contacting said reaction mixture with an oxygen-containing gas under anhydrous, noncatalytic conditions in the presence of an alkaline…