Methylation of amines with methanol in a hydrogen free system on a combined AlO-mordenite catalyst

N -Methyl amines play a major role in the production of medicines, pesticides, surfactants and dyes. N -Methylation of primary or second amines with methanol is considered to be a green path for the synthesis of N -methyl amines and the catalyst is key. In this article, the combined Al 2 O 3 -mordenite catalyst (mass fraction of alumina is 40%) with good activity, selectivity, lifetime and stability was prepared for N -methylation of various amines with methanol in a hydrogen free system in a fixed bed reactor, and characterized by XRD, N 2 adsorption and NH 3 -TPD. Furthermore, the methanol adsorption was investigated by in situ FTIR, and the result indicated that methoxyl species may be the active species for the N -methylation of amines. N -Methylation of primary or second amines with methanol is a green path for the synthesis of N -methyl amines.