Direct Amination of Bio-Alcohols Using Ammonia

A slightly adapted catalyst system has been successfully applied in the direct amination of primary and secondary alcohols. Moreover, the applicability to diols has been shown, giving high selectivity towards the primary diamines. It was found that the Ru/P ratio as well as the amount of ammonia used are highly important in this system, especially for higher substrate loadings. The catalyst was employed on a larger batch scale for the conversion of isomannide to the corresponding diamine. Additionally, it was shown that the catalyst is stable for at least six consecutive runs. No significant loss of activity and selectivity was observed.