Dehydrogenation, Deamination and Disproportionation of Diethylamine over Heteropoly Compounds

Abstract

In a continuous flow system, transformation of diethylamine over heteropoly compounds was studied at 250 to 350 °C. It was found that ammonium molybdophosphate and tungstophosphate are the most active catalysts while copper molybdophosphate is the most stable one. 12-Molybdophosphoric acid and its salts were highly selective catalysts for dehydrogenation of diethylamine to ethyliden- ethylamine whereas 12-tungstophosphoric acid and its salts directed the reaction selectively to deamination. The role of Lewis acidity of metal cations, Bronsted acidity and basic sites in the reaction mechanism is discussed.