NBS is commercially available. It can also be synthesized in the laboratory. To do so, sodium hydroxide and bromine are added to an ice-water solution of succinimide. The NBS product precipitates and can be collected by filtration.
Crude NBS gives better yield in the Wohl–Ziegler reaction. In other cases, impure NBS (slightly yellow in color) may give unreliable results. It can be purified by recrystallization from 90 to 95 °C water (10 g of NBS for 100 mL of water).