Actual Applied Catalytic Approaches to Fatty Amines: An Outside Perspective

Fatty amines (FAMs), aliphatic amines possessing a mostly linear C₈₊ hydrocarbon fragments, are large-capacity chemicals widely used in production of detergents, emulsifiers, adjuvants, fabric softeners, fuel and oil additives, corrosion inhibitors, etc. The current technologies of FAMs are based on fatty acids (nitrile process) and alcohols, obtained from triglycerides and petrochemical feedstocks. Alternative catalytic approaches to amines, intensively studied in recent decades, are direct amination of alkenes, reductive amination and aminomethylation of carbonyl compounds, hydrogen-borrowing amination of alcohols, and single-stage triglyceride or waste conversion. However, only a fraction of recent top-rated works was related to the synthesis of FAMs. In the present review, we describe and discuss above-mentioned current and prospective catalytic approaches to FAMs. The advantages and shortcomings of these approaches are evaluated from the practical point of view, indicating the most promising directions of the further industrially oriented research.