Patent ID: 6927308

Claim:
A method for synthesis of an oxime by ammoximation of a carbonyl compound, comprising: (i) reacting a carbonyl compound containing 6 to 20 C atoms with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a) an organic solvent that is a1) at least partly water-soluble, a2) stable under ammoximation conditions, a3) has a boiling point of higher than 100° C. and/or is capable of forming a two-phase azeotrope with water, and b) a titanium-containing heterogeneous catalyst, to obtain a reaction mixture containing said oxime, (ii) separating the catalyst from the reaction mixture, (iii) crystallizing the oxime and separating the crystallized oxime from the reaction mixture, thereby obtaining crystallized oxime and a mother liquor, (iv) if the mother liquor is a two-phase system in which one of the phases is an aqueous phase, then water is removed from the mother liquor in the form of an aqueous phase, and (v) distilling off water or a water-containing two-phase azeotrope from the mother liquor, while the distillation bottoms and, optionally, a predominantly organic phase of the azeotrope are recycled to stage (i).