Amine

amine, any member of a family of nitrogen-containing organic compounds that is derived, either in principle or in practice, from ammonia (NH₃).

Naturally occurring amines include the alkaloids, which are present in certain plants; the catecholamine neurotransmitters (i.e., dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine); and a local chemical mediator, histamine, that occurs in most animal tissues.

Aniline, ethanolamines, and several other amines are major industrial commodities used in making rubber, dyes, pharmaceuticals, and synthetic resins and fibres and for a host of other applications. Most of the numerous methods for the preparation of amines may be broadly divided into two groups: (1) chemical reduction (replacement of oxygen with hydrogen atoms in the molecule) of members of several other classes of organic nitrogen compounds and (2) reactions of ammonia or amines with organic compounds.

Amines are classified as primary, secondary, or tertiary depending on whether one, two, or three of the hydrogen atoms of ammonia have been replaced by organic groups. In chemical notation these three classes are represented as RNH₂, R₂NH, and R₃N, respectively. A fourth category consists of quaternary ammonium compounds, which are obtained by replacement of all four hydrogen atoms of the ammonium ion, NH₄⁺; an anion is necessarily associated (R₄N⁺X⁻). Amines are also classified as aliphatic, having only aliphatic groups attached, or aromatic, having one or more aryl groups attached. They may be open-chain, in which the nitrogen is not part of a ring, or cyclic, in which it is a member of a ring (generally aliphatic).