Patent ID: 7244857

Claim:
A method for reacting at least one primary and/or secondary alkanolamine with at least one ester, optionally, in the presence of catalyst, to provide a reaction mixture containing hydroxyalkyl amide and unreacted alkanolamine, wherein the improvement comprises, carrying out the reaction of an alkanolamine selected from the group consisting of ethanolamine, propanolamine, isopropanolamine, butanolamine, isobutanolamine, methylethanolamine, butylethanolamine, diethanolamine, dipropanolamine, diisopropanolamine, dibutanolamine, diisobutanolamine, and mixtures thereof and ester in the presence of at least one metal silicate or treating the reaction mixture with at least one metal silicate, the metal of the metal silicate being a metal of Group IIA or Group IIIA of the Periodic Table.