Introduction, nomenclature and classification of aliphatic amines

Introduction of aliphatic amines

Amines may be regarded as the alkyl or aryl derivatives of ammonia. They are obtained by the replacements of one or more hydrogen atoms of ammonia by alkyl or aryl groups. They can be classified into primary, secondary or tertiary amines depending upon whether two or three H atoms of ammonia have been replaced by alkyl or aryl groups.

Thus the characteristic functional groups for primary, secondary and tertiary amines are:

There is yet another class of compound, besides these three types of amines, in which N atom is quaternary. Such compounds are called quaternary ammonium salts. They are regarded as derivatives of ammonium salt in which all the four H atoms are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups.

Example:

[(C₂H₅)₄ N⁺]Cl^-    is tetraethyl ammonium chloride