Recent advances in selective catalytic hydrogenation of nitriles to primary amines

Hydrogenation of nitriles into primary amines is a crucial chemical reaction due to the importance of primary amines in the plastic, pharmaceutical, and agrochemical industry. However, the control of the selectivity during the reaction is a major issue, which is greatly affected by the used catalysts. Therefore, to show the existing arts and trends of catalytic systems, progress made for the selective catalytic hydrogenation of nitriles into primary amines and the reaction parameters on benzonitrile of each catalytic system in the last decade are reviewed. This review also briefly discusses the effect of different substrate structures on the selectivity and the substrate scope of each catalytic system, especially the nitriles containing functional groups and aliphatic nitriles, which aren’t mentioned in the previous reported reviews. The best results for the various chemoselectivity problems are compiled and evaluated. This review aims to critically assess the development, performance, and versatility of various catalytic systems, as well as provide new perspectives to design and apply catalysts on conditions variables and substrate structures.