[Karakth]

Here's the route I've tried to take:

C₂H₅OH is divided into two. One part is made into C₂H₅Br and the other oxidised to CH₃CHO. Mg is added to the bromoethane to make a Grignard reagent C₂H₅MgBr and this is reacted with the ethanal and hydrolised to give CH₃CH(OH)CH₂CH₃

And that's the point where I run into trouble. From this point I can either dehydrate (although it's 50-50 which way the double-bond will go) or I can try something else.

The reason I decided on a grignard reaction was to avoid creating ester or ether bonds which I do not know how to get rid of.

Something else just occured to me. Maybe I could somehow chlorinate the second carbon on ethanol and find a way to join two two-carboned molecules from that end, somehow ending up with butan-1,4-diol (after which it's easy to get to the amine).

No idea how to do that, though...Use grignard again?

[Yggdrasil]

Here's my solution:

Use PCC (pyridinium chromochloride) to oxidize ethanol to acetaldehyde.  Add sodium ethoxide (you can even make this from ethanol by treating it with sodium metal) to promote the aldol condensation forming 2-hydroxy-butanaldehyde.  Use a Jones oxidation (CrO₃ in aqueous H₂SO₄) to create acetoacetic acid.  Add chlorine in aqueous base to promote the haloform reaction, which forms chloroform and malonic acid.  Add thionylchloride to convert malonic acid to the diacyl chloride, then add ammonia to form the diamide.  Reduce with LAH (LiAlH₄) to get butan-1,4-diamine.

[Karakth]

It works, but it seems overly complicated (it uses processes which we have not studied at school). After some thought, I've vome up with this:

Dehydrate the ethanol withc conc. warm H₂SO₄ to give ethene. This is then oxidised with KMNO₄ in alkaline conditions to give ethan-1,2-diol. This is then reacted in a substitution reaction with KCN to give butan-1,4-dinitrile. You then reduce that with LiAlH₄ in ether to give butan-1,4-diamine.

Simpler, no?

[Yggdrasil]

Yup, that's a much better way of doing it.  Good job.