Abstract The amination of aliphatic alcohols in the gas–solid phase was investigated in a fixed-bed reactor in the presence of CuO–NiO/γ–Al 2 O 3 as the catalyst. This catalytic system was successfully applied for both the N-methylation of aliphatic amines and N- alkylation of piperidine with primary or secondary alcohols. N-Alkylation of piperidine with low-carbon alcohols resulted in high conversions and selectivities, and the conversion of ...