Abstract: As an important fine chemical intermediate, aliphatic amines are widely used in dyes, pesticides and other fields. The reductive amination of alcohol is one of the most promising methods with wide source of raw materials, simple process and green economy. The development of catalyst is the key and difficult point of the reaction. The research progress in heterogeneous catalysts for amination of fatty alcohol was reviewed, and the catalytic performance and reaction regularity of Ni, Co, Pd and Ru catalysts for different substrates were introduced. The modification of metal (such as its geometric structure, its electronic structure) and support (acid-base, metal-support interaction) sites were described as the main means to improve the performance of catalysts. The frontiers of the topic, including the preparation of high performance catalysts, the study of reaction mechanism and structure-activity relationship, and the development of mild reaction and polyols systems, were put forward.

Key words: fatty alcohol, reductive amination, green synthesis, catalyst