Answer to Question #165383 in Organic Chemistry for Halyufer

Question

• What property of amines is responsible for them being basic?
• Suggest two ways of increasing the basicity of an amine and give specific examples of its application.

Answer 1

a) Amines have a lone electron pair on N atom, which determines amines basic properties.

b) The first way is to change the solvent. For example, in acetic acid amines are much more basic than in water. The second way is to change the structure of amine to make it secondary, as secondary amines are more basic then primary and tertiary. This can be used in titration of amines.