A versatile cobalt catalyst for the reductive amination of carbonyl compounds with nitro compounds by transfer hydrogenation was written by Zhou, Peng;Zhang, Zehui;Jiang, Liang;Yu, Changlin;Lv, Kangle;Sun, Jie;Wang, Shuguo. And the article was included in Applied Catalysis, B: Environmental in 2017.Electric Literature of C14H12N2 This article mentions the following:
Co nanoparticles embedded in mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon (abbreviated as Co@CN-800) were prepared and found to be resistant to acid. The Co@CN-800 catalyst was active and selective for the one-pot reductive amination of carbonyl compounds with nitro compounds by transfer hydrogenation with formic acid as the hydrogen donor, affording the corresponding secondary amines with excellent yields (89.6-99%). Both nitrogen atoms and Co nanoparticles were of great importance in the one-pot reductive amination over the Co@CN-800 catalyst by formic acid, and the protic N-H+ and hydridic Co-H– were proposed to be the active species for the transfer hydrogenation reactions. Furthermore, the Co@CN-800 catalyst was highly stable without loss of its activity. In the experiment, the researchers used many compounds, for example, 4-(Benzylamino)benzonitrile (cas: 10282-32-3Electric Literature of C14H12N2).
4-(Benzylamino)benzonitrile (cas: 10282-32-3) belongs to nitriles. Nitrile function is a very important functional group because it can be manipulated to other functional groups such as carboxylic acid by hydrolysis or amine by reduction, respectively. Some nitriles are manufactured by heating carboxylic acids with ammonia in the presence of catalysts. This process is used to make nitriles from natural fats and oils, the products being used as softening agents in synthetic rubbers, plastics, and textiles and for making amines.Electric Literature of C14H12N2
Referemce:
Nitrile – Wikipedia,
Nitriles – Chemistry LibreTexts