amp;egr;-Caprolactone, process for producing the same, polycaprolactone obtained therefrom, and process for producing the polycaprolactone

摘要

The present invention provides &egr;-caprolactone having a purity of at least 99.8% by weight and a total concentration of not more than 200 ppm based on area ratio of components having a relative retention time of not more than 0.6 (low-boiling fraction), the relative retention time of &egr;-caprolactone being set to 1.00 in gas- chromatographic analysis under determined conditions. The present invention also provides a method of producing &egr;-caprolactone consisting of co-oxidizing cyclohexanone and aldehyde(s) or oxidizing cyclohexanone using a peracid to obtain &egr;-caprolactone and carboxylic acid(s) and recovering the &egr;-caprolactone via distillation after addition of an element selected from 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8, 1B and 2B groups and/or a compound containing such an element.