Processes for producing N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamides

1. A method of producing an N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide, the method comprising:

providing an aqueous solution comprising isopropylamine; and

adding to the aqueous solution a base and an amount of methacrylic anhydride to form a precipitated N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide,

wherein the precipitated N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide has the following structure:

wherein R′ is methyl and R is isopropyl,

wherein the methacrylic anhydride and the base are added to the aqueous solution at a temperature of about 20 to about 30° C., and

wherein an approximate equimolar amount of the methacrylic anhydride and the base is added to the aqueous solution.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising filtering the aqueous solution to remove the precipitated N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide from the aqueous solution.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base is selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonium hydroxide and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising washing the precipitated N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide that was filtered to remove any contaminant from the N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the base is aqueous sodium hydroxide.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the methacrylic anhydride and the aqueous sodium hydroxide are added simultaneously to the aqueous solution of isopropylamine.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising drying under vacuum the precipitated and filtered N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the precipitated, filtered, and dried N-alkyl (alkyl)acrylamide under nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis reveals a product comprising of 93% N-isopropyl methacrylamide, 4% water, and 3% impurities.