Size sensitivity of supported Ni nanoparticles on carbon for the synthesis of secondary amines from acceptorless dehydrogenation-hydrogenation of primary amines

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Earth-abundant metal catalysts, especially Ni, are highly favourable in heterogeneous reactions compared with noble metal ones. Herein, Ni nanoparticle catalysts supported on Vulcan carbon (VCX) support were prepared through a simple impregnation-reduction method and utilized for the acceptorless dehydrogenation of primary amines to secondary amines. The best performance was achieved with Ni(A)/VXC with Ni particle size of 11.9 nm at 150 °C. Smaller or larger particle sizes resulted in a lower TOF, indicating a structure-sensitive activity. This work may serve as inspiration for further investigation into acceptorless dehydrogenation using non-noble metal catalysts.