Amines are organic compounds that are related to ammonia (NH3) where one or more of the hydrogens is replaced by a hydrocarbon group as shown for the three compounds below.
The terms primary, secondary and tertiary are commonly used in organic chemistry to describe the number of bonds to carbon at a particular atom.
For amines, the terms primary, secondary and tertiary refers to the number of bonds to carbon at nitrogen. The amine is classed as
primary (1°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to one carbon and two hydrogens
secondary (2°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to two carbons and one hydrogen
tertiary (3°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to three carbons
The terms primary, secondary and tertiary are commonly used in organic chemistry to describe the number of bonds to carbon at a particular atom.
For amines, the terms primary, secondary and tertiary refers to the number of bonds to carbon at nitrogen. The amine is classed as
primary (1°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to one carbon and two hydrogens
secondary (2°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to two carbons and one hydrogen
tertiary (3°)
if the nitrogen is bonded to three carbons
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| primary | secondary | tertiary |