Amination of Ethylene Oxide to Ethanolamine

The selective amination of ethylene oxide to ethanolamine has become a hot spot in amination reactions in recent years. The preparation of ethanolamine is mainly composed of aqueous ammonia and liquid ammonia methods , which belong to typical homogeneous catalysis and heterogeneous catalysis respectively. This article intends to review the progress in aqueous ammonia method from thermodynamics , kinetics and reaction mechanism. The engineering condition of aqueous ammonia method in industry is also partly discussed. The latest knowledge of catalyst species , surface acid2 base property and pore structure in the catalyst is summarized in terms of liquid ammonia method. A prospection on the future research of selective amination is also discussed.