For the production of laurolactam, cyclododecane is oxidized with air or oxygen in the presence of boric acid and transition metal salts (e.g. cobalt(II) acetate), obtaining a mixture[3] of cyclododecanol and cyclododecanone.

[2] Laurolactam is a water-insoluble, crystalline solid; in technical quality usually beige colored and in pure state (99.9% purity) white.

Nucleophilic attack by the monomer on the reactive protonated nitrogen, followed by successive ring-opening acylation of the primary amine results in the formation of the polyamide.

[10] The ring-opening polymerization of the monomer laurinlactam initially proceeds upon addition of water in a pre-polymerization at about 300 °C under pressure to a prepolymer.

This prepolymer is reacted in a subsequent polycondensation at ambient or reduced pressure and temperatures of about 250 °C to higher molecular weight polyamide 12 ( PA 12: -[NH-(CH2)11-CO]n-).