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Amines are organic compounds that contain nitrogen. They can be thought of as derivatives of ammonia (NH₃) in which one or more hydrogen atoms have been replaced by carbon-containing groups. Amines are important in chemistry and biology — they appear in amino acids, proteins, neurotransmitters, and many pharmaceutical drugs.
Amines are classified according to how many of ammonia's hydrogen atoms have been replaced by alkyl or aryl groups:
There is also a fourth category — quaternary ammonium ions (R₄N⁺) — where four groups are attached to nitrogen and the species carries a permanent positive charge. These are not amines in the strict sense but are encountered in biological systems and surfactants.
Simple amines are named by identifying the alkyl groups attached to nitrogen and adding the suffix -amine:
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