Alkylation of ethylenediamine of Cu-based catalysts in with alcohols by use the liquid phase

Alkylation of ethylenediamine with alcohols using CuO-ZnO/Al2O3 catalysts prepared with various methods was investigated in the liquid phase. Mono N-methylated ethylenediamine was mainly obtained when methanol was used as alcohol, and its yield was largely dependent on the preparation method. XRD spectra of the catalysts revealed that Cu metal was active species, and that a catalyst possessing the smaller Cu metal showed the higher activity. Any t-butylated ethylenediamines were not obtained with t-butyl alcohol at all, suggesting the reductive alkylation mechanism. As for the reactions with other polyamines and alcohols, N-cyclohexylethylenediamine was efficiently formed with high selectivity. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.