Amine compounds are indispensable intermediates and structural units in fields such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and fine chemicals. The amination reaction of alcohols and amine sources (ammonia, primary amines, secondary amines) based on the Borrowing Hydrogen (BH) strategy is recognized as one of the mainstream routes for the green and efficient synthesis of amine compounds due to its advantages, including the theoretical generation of water as the sole by-product, nearly 100% atom economy, mild reaction conditions, and environmental friendliness. The development of highly active, selective, and stable heterogeneous catalysts is crucial for the industrial application of this reaction. This paper systematically reviews the research progress of heterogeneous catalytic systems for alcohol amination reactions under the borrowing hydrogen reaction mechanism. Using typical reactants such as aliphatic and aromatic alcohols, it elucidates the catalytic performances of typical precious metal (Ru, Pd, Au) and non-precious metal (Ni, Co, Cu, Mn) based catalysts in different reaction systems. It further discusses the regulatory patterns of key factors such as metal-support interactions, the acid-base properties of the support surface, metal dispersion, and substrate structure on catalytic behavior. An objective analysis of the advantages and existing bottlenecks of various catalytic systems is also provided. Finally, the numerous challenges currently faced in this field are outlined, and future key research directions are summarized and anticipated, offering references for the rational design of high-performance heterogeneous catalysts for alcohol amination.

Key words: Heterogeneous catalysis, Borrowing hydrogen strategy, Alcohol amination, Amine compounds, Green synthesis.