Development of a New Production Process for N-Vinyl-2-Pyrrolidone

The New Production Process for N -vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) consists of two stages: the synthesis of N -(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-pyrrolidone (HEP) from γ-butyrolactone (GBL) and monoethanolamine (MEA), and the vapor-phase dehydration of HEP to NVP. The key features of this technology are the dehydration catalyst and the vapor-phase reaction system. The catalyst is of very simple composition, being alkali (or alkaline earth) metal oxides–SiO 2 . Though its acid and base strengths are very weak, its catalytic performance is high. An IR spectroscopic study of the HEP-adsorbed catalyst indicated that the isolated silanol of the catalyst surface plays an important role.