Caprolactam (CPL) is an

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. T ...

with the formula (CH₂)₅C(O)NH. This colourless solid is a lactam (a cyclic

amide In organic chemistry, an amide, also known as an organic amide or a carboxamide, is a compound with the general formula , where R, R', and R″ represent organic groups or hydrogen atoms. The amide group is called a peptide bond when it i ...

) of

caproic acid Caproic acid, also known as hexanoic acid, is the carboxylic acid derived from hexane with the chemical formula . It is a colorless oily liquid with an odor that is fatty, cheesy, waxy, and like that of goats or other barnyard animals. It is a f ...

. Global demand for this compound is approximately five million tons per year, and the vast majority is used to make

Nylon 6 Nylon 6 or polycaprolactam is a polymer, in particular semicrystalline polyamide. Unlike most other nylons, nylon 6 is not a condensation polymer, but instead is formed by ring-opening polymerization; this makes it a special case in the compar ...

filament, fiber, and plastics.

Synthesis and production

Caprolactam was first described in the late 1800s when it was prepared by the cyclization of ε- aminocaproic acid, the product of the hydrolysis of caprolactam. World demand for caprolactam was estimated to reach five million tons per year for 2015. 90% of caprolactam produced is used to make filament and fiber, 10% for plastics, and a small amount is used as a chemical intermediate. Due to its commercial significance, many methods have been developed for the production of caprolactam. It was estimated that 90% of all caprolactam is synthesised from cyclohexanone (1), which is first converted to its

oxime In organic chemistry, an oxime is a organic compound belonging to the imines, with the general formula , where R is an organic side-chain and R’ may be hydrogen, forming an aldoxime, or another organic group, forming a ketoxime. O-substituted ...

(2). Treatment of this oxime with acid induces the

Beckmann rearrangement The Beckmann rearrangement, named after the German chemist Ernst Otto Beckmann (1853–1923), is a rearrangement of an oxime functional group to substituted amides. The rearrangement has also been successfully performed on haloimines and nitrone ...

to give caprolactam (3): : The immediate product of the acid-induced rearrangement is the bisulfate salt of caprolactam. This salt is neutralized with

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous wa ...

to release the free lactam and cogenerate

ammonium sulfate Ammonium sulfate (American English and international scientific usage; ammonium sulphate in British English); (NH4)2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen a ...

. In optimizing the industrial practices, much attention is directed toward minimizing the production of ammonium salts. The other major industrial route involves formation of the oxime from cyclohexane using nitrosyl chloride, and this method accounts for 10% of world production. The advantage of this method is that cyclohexane is less expensive than cyclohexanone. Other paths to caprolactam include the depolymerization of waste Nylon 6, and the reaction of

caprolactone ε-Caprolactone or simply caprolactone is a lactone (a cyclic ester) possessing a seven-membered ring. Its name is derived from caproic acid. This colorless liquid is miscible with most organic solvents and water. It was once produced on a large s ...

with ammonia. At bench scale, the reaction between cyclohexanone with hydrazoic acid to give caprolactam in the Schmidt reaction has been reported. : Schmidt ring expansion

Uses

Almost all caprolactam produced goes into the manufacture of

. The conversion entails a ring-opening polymerization: : Caprolactam_polymerization

Nylon 6 is widely used in

fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...

s and

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

s. In situ anionic polymerization is employed for cast nylon production where conversion from ε-caprolactam to Nylon 6 takes place inside a mold. In conjunction with endless fiber processing the term thermoplastic resin transfer molding (T-RTM) is often used. Caprolactam is also used in the synthesis of several pharmaceutical drugs including

pentylenetetrazol Pentylenetetrazol, also known as pentylenetetrazole, leptazol, metrazol, pentetrazol (INN), pentamethylenetetrazol, Corazol, Cardiazol, Deumacard, or PTZ, is a drug formerly used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convul ...

meptazinol Meptazinol (trade name Meptid) is an opioid analgesic developed by Wyeth in the 1970s. Indications for use in moderate to severe pain, most commonly used to treat pain in obstetrics (childbirth). Meptazinol is a 3-phenylazepane derivative, wher ...

, and laurocapram.

Safety

Caprolactam is an irritant and is mildly

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

, with an of 1.1 g/kg (rat, oral). In 1991, it was included on the list of hazardous air pollutants by the U.S. Clean Air Act of 1990. It was subsequently removed from the list in 1996 at the request of the manufacturers. In water, caprolactam hydrolyzes to aminocaproic acid, which is used medicinally. As of 2016 caprolactam had the unusual status of being the only chemical in the

International Agency for Research on Cancer The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC; french: Centre International de Recherche sur le Cancer, CIRC) is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization of the United Nations. Its role is to conduct and ...

's lowest hazard category, Group 4: "probably not carcinogenic to humans". Currently, there is no official permissible exposure limit set for workers handling caprolactam in the United States. The

recommended exposure limit A recommended exposure limit (REL) is an occupational exposure limit that has been recommended by the United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The REL is a level that NIOSH believes would be protective of worker safet ...

is set at 1 mg/m³ over an eight-hour work shift for caprolactam dusts and vapors. The

short-term exposure limit A short-term exposure limit (STEL) is the acceptable average exposure over a short period of time, usually 15 minutes as long as the time-weighted average is not exceeded. STEL is a term used in occupational health, industrial hygiene and toxicolo ...

is set at 3 mg/m³ for caprolactam dusts and vapors.

References

{{Carcinogen, state=collapsed Epsilon-lactams Monomers Commodity chemicals