One-pot myrtenol amination over Au nanoparticles supported on different metal oxides

•One-pot myrtenol amination over Au catalysts.•Different metal oxides as supports.•Products: biologically valuable compounds.•Correlation between support nature and catalytic performance.•The highest activity and selectivity in one-pot myrtenol amination with aniline over Au/ZrO2. The one-pot amination of natural terpene alcohol (myrtenol, with a primary hydroxyl group) was studied over gold catalysts supported on different metal oxides such as ZrO2, MgO, Al2O3, CeO2, La2O3 using the equimolar amounts of substrates under nitrogen pressure. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by TEM, N2 adsorption techniques and XPS. The correlation between acid–base properties of support and catalytic performance was established. A nearly complete myrtenol conversion as well as the highest selectivity to secondary amine of about 52% were reached after 16h over Au/ZrO2 with both acidic and basic surface sites.