Amines: Essential Organic Compounds with Diverse Functions
Amines are organic compounds that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. The general structure of an amine is R-NH2, where R can be hydrogen or an alkyl or aryl substituent. Amines are derivatives of ammonia (NH3) where one, two or three hydrogen atoms have been replaced by organic substituents such as alkyl or aryl groups. Based on the number of organic substituents, amines can be classified as primary (one substituent), secondary (two substituents) or tertiary (three substituents).
Formation and Reactions of Amines
Amines are usually produced by the reaction of ammonia with organic halides through a substitution reaction. In this reaction, the halide ion (Cl-, Br-, I-) is replaced by an amino group (-NH2). Amines can also be synthesized by the reduction of nitriles, nitro compounds or amides. Commonly used reducing agents include lithium aluminium hydride (LAH) and borane.
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