Organic Functional Groups Amines Amines are close relatives of ammonia, NH3.

. In amines however, the hydrogen atoms in the ammonia have been replaced one at a time by hydrocarbon groups. The hydrocarbon groups used will be simple alkyl groups. There are different classes of amines, the below amines are aliphatic amines (the other class being aromatic amines). There are different kinds of amines:

Primary Amines - RNH2 With primary amines, only one of the hydrogen atoms in the ammonia molecule has been replaced. Because there are so many variations on the names, naming amines can be confusing. Usually, it is called methylamine. Basically, name the parent group followed by the word amine. The second variant is where the e in the parent group is replaced by the word amine. The last variant is where the word amino in front of the parent group which is in the form prefixane. Similarly, CH3-CH2-NH2 is ethylamine. The simplest way of naming the compound where the -NH2 group is attached to a chain, is using the amino form. Secondary Amines R2NH In a secondary amine, two of the hydrogens in an ammonia molecule have been replaced by hydrocarbon groups. Usually, the secondary amines that you will come across are where both of the hydrocarbon groups are alkyl groups and identical. Again, there are other ways of writing the above molecules, but the above are the most common and simple ways of naming them. Tertiary Amines R3N In a tertiary amine, all the hydrogens in an ammonia molecule have been replaced by hydrocarbon groups. Again, it is more likely that you will come across simple ones where all three of the hydrocarbon groups are alkyl groups and all the same. Properties of Amines & Miscellaneous Facts Primary amines have higher boiling points than the other types of amines because they can form hydrogen bonds with each other as well as van der Waals (London dispersion forces). The boiling points of primary amines increase as you increase the chain length because of the greater amount of London dispersion forces between bigger molecules. The boiling point of secondary amines is a little lower than the corresponding primary amines with the same number of carbon atoms. This is because while secondary amines still form hydrogen bonds, they have the nitrogen in the middle of the chain rather than at the end of the chain, making the permanent dipole on the molecule slightly less. The lower boiling point is due to lower dipole-dipole attractions. Tertiary amines do not have any hydrogen atoms attached directly to the nitrogen, making hydrogen bonding between the tertiary amine molecules impossible. Therefore, they have a lower boiling point. Amines also have high melting points (in correspondence with the type of amine and its boiling point). All small amines are very soluble in water. This is due to the hydrogen bonding between the amine and water molecules. Amines smell of decay (slightly fishy). Amines are weak bases like ammonia and react with water. Basic strength depends on the availability of lone pair e- on N and solubility in water (stability of the conjugate cation). The test for an amine would be a reaction with hydrochloric acid which would produce a white fume (chlorine gas). Amines exhibit nucleophilic properties. Nucleophilic means 'nucleus-loving'. A nucleophile is a chemical species that is electron-rich. It will seek out an electron-deficient site in an organic molecule. In reactions with strong acids, amines tend to produce salts. Amines are used as developers in photography (aromatic diamines), as fabric softeners, and some polyfunctional amines are useful in pharmaceuticals such as epinephrine (adrenaline) and ephedrine.