Reduction of Nitrogen Compounds Aromatic primary amines can be prepared by reduction of the corresponding nitro compound. Amides can be reduced to amines with LiAlH 4 . Cyanides can be reduced to primary amines. This two step synthesis can be used to prepare a wide variety of amines by varying the aldehyde or ketone used, and also by using various primary, secondary, or tertiary amines. Reactions of Amines Reaction of Amines with Strong Acids Amines will react with strong acids to form alkylammonium salts.
Tertiary amines react with primary or secondary alkyl halides to form quaternary ammonium salts.
Chiral Amines as Resolving Agents Resoving agents are chemicals which can be used to seperate an enantiomeric pair into the individual enantiomers. The diasteriomeric salts can be separated by physical means such as fractional crystallization. Once the diasteriomeric salts are separated, the R and S chiral lactic acids can be liberated individually by treatment with a strong acid. They are particularly useful in synthesis because the diazonio group can be replaced by almost any nucleophile as indicated in the following diagram. Diazo Coupling Aryl diazonium ions can bond to other aryl groups forming azo compounds.