Patent ID: 8367788

Claim:
A process for preparing a (meth)acrylic ester (F) of an N-hydroxyalkylated lactam, comprising: esterifying a cyclic N-hydroxalkylated lactam with (meth)acrylic acid (S) or transesterifing a cyclic N-hydroxalkylated lactam with a (meth)acrylic ester (D), in either case in the presence of a catalyst (K), wherein the cyclic N-hydroxyalkylated lactam (L) is of formula: wherein R 1 is an uninterrupted C 1 -C 5 -alkylene or a C 2 -C 20 -alkylene interrupted by at least one selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, an optionally substituted imino group, a cycloalkyl group, —(CO)—, —O(CO)O—, —(NH)(CO)O—, —O(CO)(NH)—, —O(CO)—, and —(CO)O—; wherein R 1 is optionally substituted by at least one selected from the group consisting of an aryl group, an alkyl group, an aryloxy group, an alkyloxy group, a heteroatom, and a heterocycle; with the proviso that an atom of R 1 directly adjacent to the lactam carbonyl group is a carbon atom; wherein either (I) R 2 is an uninterrupted C 1 -C 20 -alkylene group, an uninterrupted C 5 -C 12 -cycloalkylene group, an uninterrupted C 6 -C 12 -arylene group, or a C 2 -C 20 -alkylene interrupted by at least one selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, an optionally substituted imino group, a cycloalkyl group, —(CO)—, —O(CO)O—, —(NH)(CO)O—, —O(CO)(NH)—, —O(CO)—, and —(CO)O— and R 2 is optionally substituted by at least one selected from the group consisting of an aryl group, an alkyl group, an aryloxy group, an alkyloxy group, a heteroatom, and a heterocycle, or (II) R 2 —OH is a group of formula —[X i ] k —H, k is from 1 to 50 and each X i is independently selected from the group consisting of —CH 2 —CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —N(H)—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —N(H)—, —CH 2 —CH(NH 2 )—, —CH 2 —CH(NHCHO)—, —CH 2 —CH(CH 3 )—O—, —CH(CH 3 )—CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —C(CH 3 ) 2 —O—, —C(CH 3 ) 2 —CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —CHVin-O—, —CHVin-CH 2 —O—, —CH 2 —CHPh-O—, and —CHPh-CH 2 —O—, wherein Ph is phenyl, and Vin is vinyl; and wherein the catalyst (K) is an alkali metal hydroxide, an alkaline earth metal hydroxide, a metal acetylacetonate, or any combination thereof.