Introduction to Pyrrolidone and Caprolactam Chemistry

A Photochemical Strategy for the Synthesis of Caprolactams via Dearomative Ring Expansion of Nitroarenes

“…Traditionally, caprolactams have been mostly prepared from readily available cyclohexanones by Beckmann or Schmidt rearrangement (Scheme 1 B). 6 7 The Beckmann rearrangement requires converting the ketone functionality into an oxime, followed by acid-catalyzed ring expansion (generally H 2 SO 4 ). In the Schmidt rearrangement, a nucleophilic azide reagent reacts with the ketone to promote, upon acidic treatment, a following migration to the desired caprolactam.…”