Patent ID: 8268955

Claim:
A process for preparing a polyamide consisting essentially of the following steps: providing monomeric or oligomeric units selected from the group consisting of arylaliphatic lactam aliphatic lactam, aminocarboxylic acid, and aminocarbonitrile; providing an unbranched alkanemonocarboxylic acid having the formula HO—(CH 2 ) n —COOH, wherein n=1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15; and polymerizing the monomeric or oligomeric units in the presence of the unbranched alkanemonocarboxylic acid to provide a polyamide that is end-capped with an unbranched alkane having at least one terminal hydroxyl group, wherein the unbranched alkanemonocarboxylic acid is present in the range from 0.001 to 2 mol %, based on 1 mole of amide groups of the polyamide.