Patent ID: 7323599

Claim:
A process for preparing amines of the general formula (I) R 1 R 2 CHNR 3 R 4 (I) in which R 1 , R 2 , R 3 and R 4 are each independently hydrogen, straight-chain or branched, halogenated or halogen-free C 1 -C 12 -alkyl, C 3 -C 12 -cycloalkyl, C 6 -C 10 -aryl or C 7 -C 11 -aralkyl, said process comprising catalytic, hydrogenating amination of a carbonyl compound of the general formula (II) R 1 —C(═O)—R 2 (II) with a nitrogen compound of the general formula (III) HNR 3 R 4 (III) in the presence of a bifunctional catalyst comprising a.) a hydrogenation-active catalyst component comprising a metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd and mixtures thereof disposed on carbon and b.) one or more solid, acidic cocatalysts selected from the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , SiO 2 , ZrO 2 , and mixtures thereof, wherein the hydrogenating amination is carried out in a reaction mixture in the presence of an aqueous solution being an aqueous ammonia or aqueous amine of the formula (III) and at least one organic solvent miscible with ammonia or the aqueous amine of the formula (III).