To provide a nitrogen-containing compound, to provide a complex formed from the nitrogen-containing compound and a transition metal in the group VIII, to provide a complex formed from the nitrogen-containing compound and zinc, and to provide a method for producing an alcohol by the use of the complex.

This nitrogen-containing compound represented by formula (1) to formula (6) [R1 and R2 are each an alkyl or an aryl; R3 and R4 are each an alkyl, an aralkyl or an aryl; (a) is an aryl, a cycloalkyl, or a substituted or non-substituted carbon-carbon double bond; (m) is 0, 1 or 2], the complex of the nitrogen-containing compound with a transition metal in the group VIII, or the complex of the nitrogen-containing compound with zinc, and the method for producing an alcohol by the use of the complex as a reactant.