[limpet chicken]

I have a question, regarding secondary alkylamines, are secondary alkylamines things like DImethylamine and DIethylamine, as oppsed to methyl and ethylamine, or does the term secondary relate to substituted alkylamines such as phenylalkylamines?

[Donaldson Tan]

secondary means the amine has 2 alkyl groups attach to it.

[limpet chicken]

I asked this, because I read something interesting.

Phosphorus pentachloride makes a compound with ammonia, reacting directly and this when heated decomposes, yielding NH3Cl and HCl, and a substance of the formula PNH, with primary alcohols it gives the dialkylamine.

Looks like an interestingly easy synthesis for diethylamine and dimethylamine

What say you people?

*whoops, was that the bottle of lysergic acid I just knocked over...only joking )