Direct amination of toluene with hydroxylamine to produce toluidine over vanadium catalysts

In this study, metallic vanadium was used as catalysts for direct amination of toluene with hydroxylamine to produce toluidine under mild conditions. High toluene conversion and toluidine selectivity were obtained, corresponding to 87.62% and 96.45% respectively. Additionally, thermodynamic and kinetic calculations were carried out. It was concluded that the reaction was dominated by kinetics, with the distribution of three products being para > ortho > meta. The computational and experimental results indicated that the amination process involves an amino radical mechanism.