Short amines, such as ethanolamines and ethylenediamines, are important compounds in today's bulk and fine chemicals industry. Unfortunately, current industrial manufacture of these chemicals relies on fossil resources and requires rigorous safety measures when handling explosive or toxic intermediates. Inspired by the elegant working mechanism of aldolase enzymes, a novel heterogeneously catalyzed process-reductive aminolysis-was developed for the efficient production of short amines from carbohydrates at low temperature. High-value bio-based amines containing a bio-derived C2 carbon backbone were synthesized in one step with yields up to 87 C%, in the absence of a solvent and at a temperature below 405 K. A wide variety of available primary and secondary alkyl- and alkanolamines can be reacted with the carbohydrate to form the corresponding C2-diamine. The presented reductive aminolysis is therefore a promising strategy for sustainable synthesis of short, acyclic, bio-based amines.

Platinum metal was dispersed on microporous, mesoporous, and nonporous support materials including the zeolites Na-Y, Ba-Y, Ferrierite, ZSM-22, ETS-10, and AIPO-11, alumina, and titania. The oxidation of carbon black loosely mixed with catalyst powder was monitored gravimetrically in a gas stream containing nitric oxide, oxygen, and water. The carbon oxidation activity of the catalysts was found to be uniquely related to the Pt dispersion and little influenced by support type. The optimum dispersion is around 3-4% corresponding to relatively large Pt particle sizes of 20-40 nm. The carbon oxidation activity reflects the NO oxidation activity of the platinum catalyst, which reaches an optimum in the 20-40 nm Pt particle size range. The lowest carbon oxidation temperatures were achieved with platinum loaded ZSM-22 and AIPO-11 zeolite crystallites bearing platinum of optimum dispersion on their external surfaces.

While conjugated vegetable oils are currently used as additives in the drying agents of oils and paints, they are also attractive molecules for making bio-plastics. Moreover, conjugated oils will soon be accepted as nutritional additives for "functional food" products. While current manufacture of conjugated vegetable oils or conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) uses a homogeneous base as isomerisation catalyst, a heterogeneous alternative is not available today. This contribution presents the direct production of CLAs over Ru supported on different zeolites, varying in topology (ZSM-5, BETA, Y), Si/Al ratio and countercation (H(+), Na(+), Cs(+)). Ru/Cs-USY, with a Si/Al ratio of 40, was identified as the most active and selective catalyst for isomerisation of methyl linoleate (cis-9,cis-12 (C18:2)) to CLA at 165 °C. Interestingly, no hydrogen pre-treatment of the catalyst or addition of hydrogen donors is required to achieve industrially relevant isomerisation productivities, namely, 0.7 g of CLA per litre of solvent per minute. Moreover, the biologically most active CLA isomers, namely, cis-9,trans-11, trans-10,cis-12 and trans-9,trans-11, were the main products, especially at low catalyst concentrations. Ex situ physicochemical characterisation with CO chemisorption, extended X-ray absorption fine structure measurements, transmission electron microscopy analysis, and temperature-programmed oxidation reveals the presence of highly dispersed RuO(2) species in Ru/Cs-USY(40).

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