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AAT Bioquest

What are the methods used to prepare amines?

Posted May 23, 2024


Answer

There are several methods for preparing amines. 

  • Alkylation of ammonia: When ammonia reacts with an alkyl halide, it produces a mixture of primary, disubstituted, and trisubstituted amines. This results in a mixture of products. 
  • Reductive amination of aldehydes or ketones: This involves their reduction in the presence of ammonia or primary/secondary amines and results in the formation of primary, secondary, or tertiary amines. When a ketone reacts with ammonia, and this is followed by catalytic or chemical reduction using sodium cyanoborohydride, it yields a primary amine. 
  • In Gabriel synthesis, potassium phthalimide is reacted with an alkyl halide to produce an N‐alkyl phthalimide. This N‐alkyl phthalimide can be hydrolyzed by aqueous acids or bases into the primary amine. 
Additional resources

Preparation of Amines

Amine Reactive Dyes and Probes for Conjugation

iFluor® 488 succinimidyl ester