The use of non-noble metal catalysts with high activity is of great importance for organic transformations. Herein, nitrogen-doped carbon supported cobalt catalysts with high surface area up to 981.2 m(2)/g were prepared via the simple pyrolysis of cobalt coordinated organic polymers with silica as the hard template. The pyrolysis temperature showed a great effect on the structure and properties of the as-prepared catalysts. The Co@NC-800 catalyst with the pyrolysis temperature of 800 degrees C demonstrated a high activity for the selective reductive amination of carbonyl compounds to primary amines with ammonia and hydrogen. Structurally-diverse primary amines with yields in the range from 81.8% to 100% were attained under the optimal conditions. The Co@NC-800 catalyst could be reused without the loss of its activity. The Co@NC-800 catalyst demonstrated comparable activity as the reported heterogeneous noble metal catalysts. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.