Patent ID: 8163899

Claim:
A process for producing laurolactam comprising the steps of: (a) reacting cyclododecanone with hydroxylamine in an aqueous solution in the presence of an excess amount of cyclododecanone or a solvent to produce cyclododecanone oxime (hereinafter, referred to as an “oxime-forming step”); (b) separating the reaction mixture obtained after said oxime-forming step into an oil and an aqueous phases and collecting a solution of cyclododecanone oxime of the oil phase (hereinafter, referred to as an “oil/aqueous phase separation step”); (c) removing dissolved water from said solution of cyclododecanone oxime which is collected as an oil phase in said oil/aqueous phase separation step (hereinafter, referred to as a “dehydration step”); (d) producing laurolactam from cyclododecanone oxime by rearrangement reaction using an aromatic-ring containing compound selected from the group consisting of 4-chloro-3,5-dinitrobenzonitrile, picryl chloride, 2-chloro-3,5-dinitropyridine and trichlorotriazine as a rearrangement catalyst (hereinafter, referred to as a “rearrangement step”); and (e) separating the produced laurolactam from the reaction mixture after said rearrangement step and purifying the laurolactam (hereinafter, referred to as a “separation/purification step”).