Recent Progress on Decarboxylation of Amino Acids

Decarboxylation of amino acids is considered to be a significant pathway of renewable resource transformation, and can convert into primary amine, diamine and their derivatives. Various methods of amino acids decarboxylation were reviewed, including enzyme decarboxylation, chemical catalysis decarboxylation, thermal decarboxylation and photoelectrochemical decarboxylation. The research progress of chemical catalysis decarboxylation was expatiated, and the catalytic pathway and mechanism of both homogeneous catalyst and heterogeneous catalyst were introduced in detail. China has become a country with the big amount of amino acids production and consumption. The development of the amino acids industry in food and feed industry has become mature. However, the industry realization of the downstream products is still lack of technology and experiences. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop new efficient catalysts and more efficient process routes. © 2019, Editorial Office of FINE CHEMICALS. All right reserved.