Selective Dehydrogenation of Alkylamines to Nitriles over Metal Oxide Catalysts

Article abstract of DOI:10.1246/cl.1988.281

Decompositions of alkylamines over ZrO2, SiO2-Al2O3, and MgO were examined in a closed recirculation reactor.ZrO2 showed the highest activities and selectevities for the formation of nitriles, especially in di- and trialkylamine decomposition.In contrast, SiO2-Al2O3 catalyzed dealkylation and deamination reactions exclusively.MgO exhibited high selectivity for the dehydrogenation of primary alkylamine.The high activity of ZrO2 is attributed to its acid-base bifunctional properties.