ε-CAPROLACTONE, PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME, POLYCAPROLACTONE OBTAINED THEREFROM, AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE POLYCAPROLACTONE

摘要

ε-Caprolactone which less discolors upon heating, has a purity of 99.8 wt.% or higher, and gives under given conditions a gas chromatogram showing that the total concentration of ingredients (low-boiling ingredients) having a retention time of 0.6 or below relative to a retention time of 1.00 for ε-caprolactone is 200 ppm or lower in terms of areal proportion; and a process for obtaining ε-caprolactone less discoloring upon heating which comprises oxidizing cyclohexanone together with an aldehyde or oxidizing cyclohexanone with a peracid to obtain ε-caprolactone and a carboxylic acid and then recovering the ε-caprolactone by distillation, wherein the distillation is conducted after an element of Groups 4A, 5A, 6A, 7A, 8, 1B, and 2B and/or a compound thereof is added to the reaction mixture.