IPC Publication

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:
    • treatment of plants or animals, covered by subclass A01N;
    • foodstuffs, covered by class A23;
    • ammunition or explosives, covered by class F42.
  • 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.

Note(s) [2012.01]

• In this class, the following term is used with the meaning indicated:
  • "preparation" covers purification, separation, stabilisation or use of additives, unless a separate place is provided therefor.
• Biocidal, pest repellant, pest attractant or plant growth regulatory activity of compounds or preparations is further classified in subclass A01P.
• In subclasses C07C-C07K, the last place priority rule is applied, i.e. at each hierarchical level, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, and with the exception referred to below, a compound is classified in the last appropriate place. For example, 2-butyl-pyridine, which contains an acyclic chain and a heterocyclic ring, is classified only as a heterocyclic compound, in subclass C07D. In general, and in the absence of an indication to the contrary (such as groups C07C 59/58, C07C 59/70), the terms "acyclic" and "aliphatic" are used to describe compounds in which there is no ring; and, if a ring were present, the compound would be taken by the "last place" rule to a later group for cycloaliphatic or aromatic compounds, if such a group exists. Where a compound or an entire group of compounds exists in tautomeric forms, it is classified as though existing in the form which is classified last in the system, unless the other form is specifically mentioned earlier in the system.
• Chemical compounds and their preparation are classified in the groups for the type of compound prepared. The processes of preparation are also classified in places for the types of reaction employed, if of interest. Examples of such places outside this class are:

  C12P	Fermentation or enzyme-using processes to synthesise a desired chemical compound or composition or to separate optical isomers from a racemic mixture
  C25B 3/00	Electrolytic production of organic compounds
  C25B 7/00	Electrophoretic production of compounds

• General processes for the preparation of a class of compounds falling into more than one main group are classified in the groups for the processes employed, when such groups exist. The compounds prepared are also classified in the groups for the types of compound prepared, if of interest.
• In this class, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, the compounds containing carboxyl or thiocarboxyl groups are classified as the relevant carboxylic or thiocarboxylic acids, unless the "last place rule" (see Note (3), above) dictates otherwise; a carboxyl group being a carbon atom having three bonds, and no more than three, to hetero atoms, other than nitrogen atoms of nitro or nitroso groups, with at least one multiple bond to the same hetero atom and a thiocarboxyl group being a carboxyl group having at least one bond to a sulfur atom, e.g. amides or nitriles of carboxylic acids, are classified with the corresponding acids.
• Salts of a compound, unless specifically provided for, are classified as that compound, e.g. aniline hydrochloride is classified as containing carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen only (in group C07C 211/46), sodium malonate is classified as malonic acid (in C07C 55/08), and a mercaptide is classified as the mercaptan. Metal chelates are dealt with in the same way. Similarly, metal alcoholates and metal phenates are classified in subclass C07C and not in subclass C07F, the alcoholates in groups C07C 31/28-C07C 31/32 and the phenates as the corresponding phenols in group C07C 39/235 or C07C 39/44. Salts, adducts or complexes formed between two or more organic compounds are classified according to all compounds forming the salts, adducts or complexes.

Note(s) [2006.01]

• This subclass covers compounds containing saccharide radicals (see the definitions in Note (3) below).
• This subclass does not cover polysaccharides which for the purpose of this subclass are defined as having more than five saccharide radicals attached to each other by glycosidic linkages.
• In this subclass, the following expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
  • "saccharide radical" which is derived from acyclic polyhydroxy-aldehydes or acyclic polyhydroxy-ketones, or from their cyclic tautomers, by removing hydrogen atoms or by replacing hetero bonds to oxygen by the same number of hetero bonds to halogen, nitrogen, sulfur, selenium, or tellurium, in accordance with either of the following definitions:
    • It
      • consists of an uninterrupted carbon skeleton and oxygen atoms directly attached thereto, and
      • is considered to be terminated by every bond to a carbon atom of a cyclic structure and by every bond to a carbon atom having three bonds to hetero atoms, e.g. ester or nitrile radicals, and
      • contains within the carbon skeleton an unbranched sequence of at the most six carbon atoms in which at least three carbon atoms — at least two in the case of a skeleton having only four carbon atoms — have one single bond to an oxygen atom as the only hetero bond, and
        • in a cyclic or acyclic sequence, at least one other carbon atom has two single bonds to oxygen atoms as the only hetero bonds, or
        • in an acyclic sequence, at least one other carbon atom has one double bond to an oxygen atom as the only hetero bond,

        the said sequence containing at the most one double bond, i.e. C=C or possibly ketalised C(=O), in addition to the hetero bonds mentioned above under (A) or (B), e.g. the compounds

        • an unbranched sequence of at the most six carbon atoms, having bonds to oxygen as defined in this Note
        • n being an integer, are classified in group C07H 3/02 ;

    • It is also a radical derived from a radical as defined in (a) above by replacing at the most four of the specified hetero bonds to oxygen by the same number of hetero bonds to halogen, nitrogen, sulfur, selenium, or tellurium;
  • "heterocyclic radical" or "hetero ring" is considered to exclude saccharide radicals as defined above.
• Attention is drawn to Note (3) after class C07, which defines the last place priority rule applied in the range of subclasses C07C-C07K and within these subclasses.
• Therapeutic activity of compounds is further classified in subclass A61P .