A research group at Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a new catalyst that can produce industrially useful "aromatic amines" without by-products.With this new catalyst, the energy generated by the production of aromatic amines can be reduced by a third.

 Aromatic amines are used as raw materials for various chemical products such as pharmaceuticals, rubbers, polymers, adhesives and dyes.However, the existing manufacturing method using a catalyst produces a large amount of by-products, which requires a large amount of energy to remove impurities, which has pushed up the cost.

 The research group has developed a new catalyst called "face-centered cubic ruthenium nanoparticle catalyst" (FCC-Ru).It has a structure that is significantly different from conventional catalysts, and can completely prevent side reactions and synthesize only useful aromatic amines. In addition, the reaction efficiency can be increased more than three times.For example, when synthesizing furfurylamine from the aromatic compound furfural, with conventional catalysts, more than 3% of the raw material is a useless by-product, but with FCC-Ru, the yield of furfurylamine is 10%. Reach.It is said that the same effect was obtained in the synthesis of useful aromatic amines using various aromatic aldehydes as raw materials, which means that the production of aromatic amines can be made highly efficient to the limit by FCC-Ru.

 In addition, FCC-Ru is a solid material that allows easy separation of products and by-products, and the catalyst performance does not deteriorate even when used repeatedly and continuously.It is expected to bring innovation to the production of aromatic amines that are mass-produced as medical and agricultural chemicals.

 Furthermore, it is thought that the new ideas and design policies of the research group that made this catalytic performance possible have the potential to innovate the production of various chemical products beyond aromatic amines.

Paper information:[Chemical Science] A high performance catalyst of shape-specific ruthenium nanoparticles for production of primary amines by reductive amination of carbonyl compounds

Tokyo Institute of Technology

The pinnacle of science and engineering university that continues to produce science and engineering people with high aspirations and a Japanese spirit, mastering the knowledge that creates the times, refining their skills

Tokyo Institute of Technology was established as the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1881 (Meiji 14), when modernization of industry was an urgent need.Since its establishment, it has continued to produce excellent research results with excellent science and engineering human resources, and is still at the top of Japan's science and engineering universities.Tokyo Institute of Technology requires not only a high degree of specialization but also liberal arts […]

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