Amination of cyclohexanol over metallosilicate-based materials Original Research Article

Reductive amination of cyclohexanol over acidic and nickel containing metallosilicates was studied at atmospheric pressure and different temperatures. Pure H+ as well as Ni2+ charge-compensating cations were found to be inactive in this reaction. Experiments carried out over Ni-impregnated metallosilicates showed that the catalyst activity and selectivity to cyclohexylamine rose with the content of Ni0 to 10 wt%, and remained practically constant between 10–40 wt%. On the contrary, both the conversion and selectivity to cyclohexylamine continued to increase with increasing Ni content over the Ni/SiO2 catalyst within the same concentration range. The nickel dispersions followed a trend similar to the conversions.