| abstract |
A process for preparing cycloalkanone whichncomprises the steps of (A) contacting cycloalkane withnmolecular oxygen in the presence of an oxidationncatalyst having an imide moiety represented by formulan(I) wherein X represents an oxygen atom or a hydroxylngroup (oxidation apparatus 2), (B) separating thencatalyst, a by-produced acid component and derivativesnthereof from the resulting reaction mixture (filter 3,nextraction column 4, hydrolyzing apparatus 7 andnsponification apparatus 8), and (C) separatingncycloalkane, cycloalkanol and cycloalkanone from thenreaction mixture (distillation columns 5, 6, 9 and 10).nAlso disclosed is a process comprising separating a firstncomponent containing cycloalkane (low boiling pointncomponent) and a second component containingncycloalkanone and cycloalkanol (high boiling pointncomponent) from the reaction mixture and thennseparating cycloalkanone and cycloalkanol from thenhigh boiling point component. Such processes can benused for preparing cycloalkanone with high efficiency. |