Amines

In organic chemistry, amines are compounds that contain basic nitrogen atoms with a lone pair of electrons. Amines are derivatives of ammonia in which one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by a substituent such as an alkyl or aryl group. Important amines include amino acids, biogenic amines, trimethylamine and aniline. Amines can be divided into four subcategories: primary amines are produced when one of the three hydrogen atoms in ammonia is replaced by an alkyl or aryl group; secondary amines have two organic substituents bonded to nitrogen along with a hydrogen atom; the third is tertiary amines, where nitrogen has three organic substituents, last one is cyclic amine, which are secondary or tertiary amines.

Applications

• Industry use: Amino acids are used in various applications in the industry, one of which is as additives for animal feed. Because most of the components of these feeds lack some essential amino acids, for example, lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan which are the most important amino acids in the production of these feeds. The food industry is also a major consumer market of amino acids. Glutamic acid is used as a flavor enhancer, and aspartame is a low calorie artificial sweetener. The human nutrition industry uses technologies that are similar to animal nutrition to alleviate the symptoms of mineral deficiency by improving mineral absorption and reducing the side effects of inorganic mineral supplements.

  Fig.1. Animal feed

• Medical use: In the practice of chelation therapy, for example, for the treatment of mercury and lead poisoning, a specific EDTA salt known as sodium edetate is used to bind metal ions. The therapy is used to treat complications of repeated blood transfusions as it would be used to treat thalassemia. Dentists use EDTA solutions to remove inorganic debris and lubricate the canals. This procedure helps to prepare root canal for obturation. In addition, edta can also be used as an antiseptic in eye preparations and eye drops.

  Fig.2. EDTA

• Chemical synthesis: Piperidine is used as a solvent and a base. N-formylpiperidine is a polar aprotic solvent, which has better solubility than other amide solvents, and 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine is a sterically hindered base with low nucleophilicity and high solubility in organic solvents. Dimethylamine is a precursor to several industrially important compounds, which can react with carbon disulfide to produce dimethyl dithiocarbamate. Dimethyl dithiocarbamate is a precursor to a family of chemicals, which are widely used in the vulcanization of rubber. Solvents dimethylformamide and dimethylacetamide are derived from dimethylamine, which are raw materials for the production of agrichemicals and pharmaceuticals, such as dimefox and diphenhydramine.