A wide range of amino alcohols were used with vanadium(II) to bind and reduce dinitrogen under ambient conditions to give ammonia and hydrazine. The total yield, as well as the ratio of the two reduced products, varies with the ligand used and the conditions of the reaction. Various techniques were used to characterize the initial products including IR, UV-Vis, EPR and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy, ES-MS, and X-ray crystallography. The ammonia and hydrazine produced were analyzed by standard literature methods. The mechanisms of the reactions were proposed based on experimental data and available information from the literature.
The corresponding reactions with vanadium(III) provided very good yields of both ammonia and hydrazine, the ratio of which could be varied easily, but required the presence of acetonitrile to bind and reduce N 2 . Various techniques were used to characterize the initial products including IR, UV-Vis, EPR and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy, and ES-MS. Ammonia and hydrazine produced were analyzed by standard literature methods. The mechanisms of the reactions were proposed based on the experimental data available and the literature.
