Polymerization of laurinolactam. I. Impurities in industrial laurinolactam and their influence on anionic polymerization

Abstract

synopsisFractions containing predominantly cyclododecanone (0.02%), C Z~ hydrocarbons (0.02%), and probably isomers of the mono-and diunsaturated lsmembered lactam (0.05%) were isolated from industrial laurinolactam. Both the cyclic ketone and unsaturated lactams slow down the anionic polymerization of laurinolactam, but they exert only insignificant or no effects on the molecular weight of the resulting polymer if the polymerization has been activated with N,Bdisubstituted 3-oxoamide. On the other hand, the molecular weight is greatly affected by the type of catalytic system. Of the purification techniques tested, the most effective and advantageous one was crystallization from l,%dimethoxyethane.