Supported Ruthenium catalysts with electronic effect and acidity-basicity for efficient reductive amination of biomass-based carbonyl compounds

[Display omitted] •Stable supported-ruthenium catalysts with electronic effect and acidity-basicity were constructed.•The Ru/SBA-15 provids excellent catalytic performance for reductive amination of biomass-based carbonyl compounds.•The Ru/SBA-15 shows excellent heterogeneity and can be recycled at least seven times without significant loss of active sites. The efficiently reductive amination of carbonyl compounds to the corresponding primary amines under mild condition with NH3 and H2 as nitrogen and hydrogen sources is a challenging task in the chemistry community. Therefore, supported Ru catalysts with excellent catalytic activity for reductive amination of carbonyl compounds were synthesized in this work using a simple impregnation method. Among them, Ru/SBA-15 showed excellent catalytic performance for reductive amination of carbonyl compounds, and the yields were more than 91%. The Ru nanoparticles (Ru NPs) were uniformly dispersed on the support, and the structure of the support was not destroyed. The acidity-basicity and the appropriate electron density are the reasons for the high activity and selectivity of supported Ru catalysts. The catalyst design concept with both electronic effect and acidity-basicity combination provides a new strategy for the conversion of biomass-based carbonyl compounds.