Rapid Multialkylation of Aqueous Ammonia with Alcohols by Heterogeneous Iridium Catalyst under Simple Conditions

Abstract This paper reports the synthesis of tertiary and secondary amines from aqueous ammonia and benzylic alcohols by titania‐supported iridium catalyst. It is a successful example of heterogeneous systems at moderate temperature without either additional solvent or high pressure. The catalytic system showed good tolerance to the atmosphere condition and performed rapidly to give tribenzylamine a yield of over 99 % within 6 hours in argon. The crystal structure of titania supports for iridium catalysts strongly affected their activity. The catalysis smoothly proceeded on larger scales. The catalyst could be easily reused and run at least for 5 cycles without significant loss of activity. The highly‐dispersed iridium species of less than 2 nm in diameter would be responsible for the excellent catalytic activity. This catalyst is well applicable in multialkylation of aqueous ammonia with various primary and secondary benzylic alcohols.