The characterization of unsupported Ru-Co bimetallic catalysts prepared from RuCl3 and CoCO3 has been studied. Such catalysts were applied to the simultaneous hydrogenation (CN group) and reductive amination (C=O group) of 3-cyano-3,5,5-trimethyl-1-oxo-cyclohexane (IPN) to 3-aminomethyl-3,5,5-trimethyl-cyclohexylamine (IPDA). To improve the activity and the selectivity for IPDA, the optimal elemental composition and preparation conditions of the Ru-Co catalysts were studied in combination with the characterization by XRD and TPR. The interaction between Ru and Co of this catalyst significantly influences the reaction performance. A catalyst, for example, having a low Ru-Co interaction like a very small Ru/Co atomic ratio catalyst, gave low activity and IPDA selectivity. The selection and control of the counter anion of the catalyst precursor (before hydrogen reduction) is also found to be an important factor for catalyst performance. The XRD results revealed that the Ru-Co catalyst precursors, whose metal counter anion is a mixture of OH- and CO32-, showed higher reaction activity and selectivity for IPDA and there is an optimum ratio of CO32-/(OH-)(2) = 51/49. The XRD data also showed that the Ru-Co catalyst precursor with a low crystallinity of the CoCO3 and Co(OH)(2) mixture is more suitable for this reaction than that which is mainly composed of large crystalline CoCO3 or Co(OH)(2). The reason for these results is that the counter anion mixed and low crystallinity catalyst precursor have a good Ru dispersion on the surface of the Co compound. This type of precursor thus gave a suitable geometrical Ru-Co alloy structure (this means 'high Ru-Co interaction') after hydrogen reduction.