Cyclohexylamines are important intermediates in chemical industry, which are currently produced from petrochemical sources. Phenols, however, are an attractive sustainable feedstock. We here demonstrate the transformation of phenols with ammonia to primary cyclohexylamines. In contrast to previously reported chemistry which used palladium catalysts, we here show that rhodium is an excellent catalyst for the formation of primary cyclohexylamines. Different parameters were studied and it was shown that the reaction is applicable to a scope of phenolic compounds providing high selectivity.

中文翻译：

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铑催化苯酚直接转化为伯环己胺

环己胺是化学工业中的重要中间体，目前是从石油化学来源生产的。但是，苯酚是一种有吸引力的可持续原料。我们在这里证明了苯酚与氨到伯环己胺的转化。与先前报道的使用钯催化剂的化学方法相反，我们在此表明​​铑是形成伯环己胺的极好催化剂。研究了不同的参数，结果表明该反应适用于提供高选择性的酚类化合物。