An overview of caprolactam synthesis

Caprolactam is the precursor of many industrial chemical productions as in nylon industry, plastic industry, paint industry, lysine synthesis and cross-linking for polyurethanes. The production of caprolactam has been focus much from last three decades among the scientific community to fulfill the industrial need under environment precautions. Herein a sequential and explanatory review broadly covering the transformation of a different substrate as cyclohexanone oxime, cyclohexanone, cyclohexanol, cyclohexane, and biorenewable sources into caprolactam is presented. For every substrate, a wide range of catalyst including homogeneous as well as the heterogeneous system has been deeply considered. This study will be helpful for developing alternative industrial route for production of caprolactam.