November 13, 2026 | Daily Amine Industry Briefing | PU Catalyst Prices, an Aromatic Diamine Spike, Metal-Free C-N Alkylation, and Nitrogen Chemistry in Pharma and Gas Treating

This edition covers four developments dated 13 November 2026, supported by two technical notes published on 11 November. It follows the amine value chain from a polyurethane catalyst price board and an aromatic diamine spike driven by benzene costs, through a metal-free carbon-nitrogen alkylation method reported this morning, to a new pharmaceutical approval and the gas-treating chemistry behind a major LNG expansion. Supplier advertisements, promotional product listings, quotation pages, telephone numbers, instant-messaging contacts and QR codes have been excluded; source names appear as plain text rather than promotional links.

1. Polyurethane Amine Catalyst Prices Hold Firm While Overseas Silicone Capacity Exits

1. Summary: A polyurethane additives price board dated 13 November describes amine blowing catalysts as one of the firmer segments of a mostly soft auxiliary market. Solid triethylenediamine at 99.5 percent purity is quoted at 35,000 to 45,000 yuan per tonne, di-n-butylamine at 14,000 to 20,000 yuan per tonne, and A33 liquid or solid amine formulations at 16.9 to 100 yuan per kilogram. On capacity, Anhui Hengguang is reported at 3,000 tonnes per year of amine catalyst with an upgrade adding a further 3,000 tonnes, while a combined organotin and specialty amine expansion adds roughly 32,300 tonnes per year. Silicone surfactants are deflating: dimethyl silicone oil runs at 15,000 to 17,000 yuan per tonne and monomer offers have fallen to about 13,800 yuan per tonne. Overseas restructuring is the counterweight, with Dow's Barry site in the United Kingdom entering a phased shutdown from November and Evonik expanding its Essen organosilicon units. Organotin catalysts remain firm, with stannous octoate T-9 at 95 to 96 yuan per kilogram. For nitrogen chemistry the notable point is where value sits: DABCO-family tertiary amines serve foam blow and gel catalysis as well as epoxy acceleration, while imidazole accelerators and strong amidine bases such as DBU cover mid-temperature and latent cure. Tetramethylguanidine is increasingly cited as a lower-cost DBU substitute in cephalosporin intermediate processing and foam catalysis. BASF's low-emission Lupragen BisDMAPU urea catalyst for flexible foam shows the same shift toward emission-controlled amine design. A Kente Catalysis investor record dated 11 November lists curing accelerators spanning tertiary amines, imidazoles, quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts and crown ethers.

2. Source: Polyurethane additives price board and market analysis dated 13 Nov 2026 ; China Polyurethane Industry Association isocyanate committee news page, BASF Lupragen BisDMAPU announcement, Sept 2026 ; Kente Catalysis investor relations record, 11 Nov 2026 ; public technical literature on amine catalysts, imidazole accelerators and amidine bases. Supplier catalogue and quotation pages were discarded.

3. Editor's Pick + Reason: The divergence between firm amine catalyst quotes and falling silicone monomer offers. Reason: It tells formulators which line item will resist negotiation. When the silicone side deflates, the auditable differentiators become catalyst emissions, selectivity and batch consistency, a specification argument rather than a volume argument. With 6,000 tonnes of new domestic amine catalyst capacity, competition will be on grade and qualification, not nameplate.

2. Meta-Phenylenediamine Jumps 21 Percent as Benzene Costs Finally Pass Through

1. Summary: A Longzhong focus note carried by Mysteel on 13 November reports domestic meta-phenylenediamine rising from 21,500 to 26,000 yuan per tonne, a gain of 4,500 yuan or about 21 percent. The stated driver is not a demand shock but lagged cost transmission from upstream pure benzene, with the cost pressure released in a concentrated step. Earlier in the cycle, East China benzene port inventories were low, most cargo ownership was already locked, and freely tradable spot was scarce, pushing the negotiation centre sharply higher. Futures confirmed the direction on the same morning: domestic commodity futures were mostly higher, with ethylene glycol up nearly 4 percent, styrene and asphalt up more than 3 percent, and methanol, pure benzene and glass up more than 2 percent, while silver and palladium fell more than 3 percent. Meta-phenylenediamine is an aromatic diamine made by nitrating benzene to meta-dinitrobenzene followed by hydrogenation, serving as a high-temperature epoxy curing agent and an intermediate for aramid fibre, dyes, agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. The tension with the epoxy chain is the useful signal. A resin market note issued on 12 November described falling bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin costs, limited new orders and the E-51 benchmark slipping 50 yuan to 15,300 yuan per tonne. Base resin is therefore deflating while a key aromatic hardener is inflating, squeezing the curing package from both ends. An agrochemical price bulletin dated 13 November put glyphosate technical material at 23,500 to 26,000 yuan per tonne, a reminder that benzene and nitrogen intermediates read through to amino-phosphonate herbicides and imidazolidine-type insecticides.

2. Source: Longzhong focus note on meta-phenylenediamine, Mysteel chemical division, 13 Nov 2026 ; Cailianpress and Securities Times domestic futures morning summaries, 13 Nov 2026 ; Mysteel epoxy resin market note, 12 Nov 2026 ; agrochemical price bulletin, 13 Nov 2026. Supplier quote pages were excluded.

3. Editor's Pick + Reason: The explicit description of lagged benzene cost transmission rather than end-demand strength. Reason: It gives hardener buyers a leading indicator they can actually monitor. If the move is cost-driven and benzene futures are still rising, hedging or index-linked contracts matter more than spot negotiation. Paired with a falling E-51 benchmark, it also warns that resin price relief will not automatically reach the formulated system.

3. A Metal-Free HFIP Method Delivers Site-Selective Alkylation of Arylamines and Indoles

1. Summary: A synthesis report published on 13 November describes a hexafluoroisopropanol-mediated, metal-free, site-selective carbon-hydrogen alkylation from a team at China Three Gorges University, appearing in the Chinese Journal of Chemistry. Enynones serve as the alkylating reagents through a covalently masked electrophile strategy, building triarylmethane products bearing a furan unit from arylamines and unprotected indoles. Mechanistically, the enynone undergoes intramolecular cycloisomerisation in HFIP to a hexafluoroisopropyl ether intermediate; the isolated intermediate reaches quantitative conversion with aniline within two hours in HFIP but gives no reaction in dichloromethane, supporting a specific solvent role in electrophile activation. Selectivity is the core result. Tetrakis(dimethylamino)diboron coordinates through boron-nitrogen interactions to redistribute electron density on the arene, pushing primary arylamines to para alkylation with regioselectivity above 20 to 1 for most substrates; secondary and tertiary arylamines need no diboron additive. Unsubstituted indoles react at C3, C3-blocked indoles switch to C2, and indoles blocked at both C2 and C3 react selectively at C6 on the benzene ring, again above 20 to 1. The method tolerates primary, secondary and tertiary arylamines and unprotected indoles, and was applied to late-stage modification of ibuprofen, flurbiprofen, indomethacin, melatonin, tryptophan and a dipeptide. Adjusting the stoichiometry gives mono-, di- or tri-alkylation of triphenylamine. A one-pot three-step sequence from readily available terminal alkynes avoids isolating the enynone, the reaction scales to gram quantities, HFIP is recovered by distillation and reused, and the products convert further into assorted heterocycles. For nitrogen chemistry suppliers the relevance is practical: a directing-group-free, transition-metal-free route to functionalised arylamines shortens the path from commodity aniline feedstocks to pharmaceutical intermediates, and solvent recycling and gram-scale claims make it more than a proof of concept.

2. Source: Chinese Journal of Chemistry result from China Three Gorges University, reported by the organic synthesis desk on 163.com, 13 Nov 2026 ; related public literature on amine oxidation and imine intermediates. Supplier product-recommendation pages were excluded.

3. Editor's Pick + Reason: The boron-nitrogen coordination switch that turns para selectivity above 20 to 1 on and off. Reason: It converts regioselectivity from a substrate property into a reagent choice, which is exactly the kind of control a custom-synthesis supplier can price. Together with HFIP recovery, gram-scale demonstration and late-stage modification of named drug molecules, it marks a credible step from methodology into intermediate supply rather than another isolated reaction.

4. A New Antibiotic Strength and LNG Gas Treating Show Where Nitrogen Value Is Qualified

1. Summary: Two disclosures this week locate nitrogen value in qualification rather than tonnage. On 13 November Everest Medicines announced that the National Medical Products Administration approved a new 100 mg strength of eravacycline hydrochloride for injection, described as the first fully synthetic fluorocycline antibacterial, with broad activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens in complicated intra-abdominal infection. The 50 mg strength was approved in 2023; the tetracycline-class molecule carries a dimethylamino substituent. More telling for suppliers is the manufacturing note: the Jiashan site holds a production licence, technology transfer is on track, the 50 mg process validation is complete, and API production is being localised. A company profile updated the same day lists Tianjin Minxiang among domestic producers of amantadine hydrochloride, L-prolinamide and vildagliptin. On the petroleum side, an 11 November study of Qatar's North Field expansion puts amine chemistry at the centre of gas treating: MDEA and activated MDEA absorb hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, degradation generates heat-stable salts that cut efficiency and accelerate corrosion, and amine purification by ion exchange or electrodialysis lowers solvent consumption by about 20 percent. The same series lists imidazoline inhibitors, THPS biocides, low-dosage hydrate inhibitors and TEG dehydration. Chemical cost is estimated at 0.5 to 1.5 US dollars per tonne of LNG, or 70 to 210 million US dollars a year, with qualification often exceeding two years. A separate 11 November patent filing from Hongshan Oilfield and PetroChina covers online sulfide detection for intelligent scavenger dosing, claiming 30 to 50 percent reagent savings.

2. Source: Everest Medicines voluntary announcement, HKEXnews, 13 Nov 2026 ; Securities Star HK, 13 Nov 2026 ; Tianjin Minxiang company profile, 13 Nov 2026 ; Energy Going Global country studies on Qatar and Nigeria, 11 Nov 2026 ; CNIPA patent publication, 11 Nov 2026. Vendor pages were excluded.

3. Editor's Pick + Reason: The roughly 20 percent amine consumption reduction from salt removal, set against a two-year qualification cycle. Reason: It reframes gas treating as solvent management rather than a drum sale. Paired with API process validation and localisation, the signal is consistent: nitrogen chemistry margins now come from documented long-run performance, and the barrier to entry is the qualification file.

Compiled 13 November 2026. Illustrations are original, AI-generated and watermark-free. Dates and times refer to GMT+8.