Patent ID: 8476387

Claim:
A process for preparing a (meth)acrylic ester (F) of an N-hydroxyalkylated lactam, in which a cyclic N-hydroxyalkylated lactam (L) in which R 1 is C 1 -C 5 -alkylene, or C 2 -C 20 -alkylene interrupted by one or more oxygen and/or sulfur atoms and/or one or more substituted or unsubstituted imino groups and/or by one or more cycloalkyl, —(CO)—, —O(CO)O—, —(NH)(CO)O—, —O(CO)(NH)—, —O(CO)— or —(CO)O— groups, where the radicals mentioned may each be substituted by aryl, alkyl, aryloxy, alkyloxy, heteroatoms and/or heterocycles, with the proviso that R 1 must not have any atom other than a carbon atom directly adjacent to the lactam carbonyl group, and R 2 is C 1 -C 20 -alkylene, C 5 -C 12 -cycloalkylene, C 6 -C 12 -arylene, or C 2 -C 20 -alkylene interrupted by one or more oxygen and/or sulfur atoms and/or one or more substituted or unsubstituted imino groups and/or by one or more cycloalkyl, —(CO)—, —O(CO)O—, —(NH)(CO)O—, —O(CO)(NH)—, —O(CO)— or —(CO)O— groups, where the radicals mentioned may each be substituted by aryl, alkyl, aryloxy, alkyloxy, heteroatoms and/or heterocycles, or R 2 —OH is a group of the formula —[X i ] k —H, in which k is from 1 to 50 and X i for each i=1 to k, may each independently be selected from the group 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—, in which Ph is phenyl and Vin is vinyl, in the presence of at least one metal salt of C 1 -C 10 -alkoxides (A), is esterified with (meth)acrylic acid (S) or transesterified with at least one (meth)acrylic ester (D), in which the metal salt of C 1 -C 10 -alkoxides (A) used as a catalyst is added in the absence of solvents and completely at the start of the reaction.