Patent ID: 8680267

Claim:
A process for producing an amide or a lactam, the process comprising the step of subjecting cyclohexanone oxime to rearrangement in the presence of at least one catalyst and a co-catalyst in a solvent to yield the corresponding amide or lactam, the at least one catalyst being selected from the group consisting of an aromatic compound (A1) and a compound (A2), wherein the aromatic compound (A1) is a triazine compound represented by Formula (2a): wherein Z represents a halogen atom or an —OR group, wherein R represents sulfonyl groups, haloalkyl groups, alkylideneamino groups, or cycloalkylideneamino groups; and X 1 and X 2 are the same as or different from each other and each represent a hydrogen atom, halogen atom, alkyl group, haloalkyl group, aryl group, cycloalkyl group, hydroxyl group, alkoxy group, aryloxy group, haloalkoxy group, mercapto group, carboxyl group, substituted oxycarbonyl group, formyl group, acyl group, acyloxy group, nitro group, sulfo group, cyano group, amino group, oxyamino group or another organic group, wherein X 1 and X 2 are optionally bound to each other to form an aromatic or nonaromatic ring with atoms constituting the ring in the formula; wherein the compound (A2) is selected from the group consisting of phosphazene compounds represented by Formula (1a), phosphoric ester compounds represented by Formula (1b), and imide compounds represented by Formula (1d): wherein L A represents a leaving group; R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , R 7 , R 10 , and R 11 are the same as or different from one another and each represent a hydrogen atom, halogen atom, alkyl group, haloalkyl group, aryl group, aralkyl group, cycloalkyl group, hydroxyl group, alkoxy group, aryloxy group, haloalkoxy group, mercapto group, carboxyl group, substituted oxycarbonyl group, acyl group, acyloxy group, nitro group, sulfo group, cyano group, amino group, oxyamino group, or another organic group; R 2 and R 3 are optionally bound to each other to form a ring with the adjacent phosphorus atom; R 4 and R 5 are optionally bound to each other to form a ring with the adjacent phosphorus atom; R 6 and R 7 are optionally bound to each other to form a ring with the adjacent oxygen atom and phosphorus atom; R 10 and R 11 are optionally bound to each other to form a ring with the adjacent two carbon atoms and nitrogen atom; wherein the co-catalyst includes a halogen-containing organic acid, wherein, when the aromatic compound (A1) alone is used as the catalyst, the solvent is at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of hydrocarbon solvents, ether solvents, halogenated hydrocarbon solvents and ketone solvents.