310 CHEMISTRY. 



425. Amines. These are bodies containing nitrogen, and 

 patterned after ammonia. Up to this point carbon, a tet- 

 rad, has been the foundation on which the organic bodies 

 are built up, but now we will assume that nitrogen takes 



[ H 



this position. Ammonia is NH 3 , NHHH, or N < H ; it mat- 



IH 



ters not how it is written. Now the hydrogen atoms in 

 ammonia are capable of being replaced by organic groups, 

 which we have called radicals, either successively or all at 

 once. Suppose we take, for example, the same radical C 2 IT 5 

 which is supposed to exist in alcohol, ether, etc. Now if 



fH 

 we substitute C 2 H 5 for one of the IT atoms in N i H, we 



fH [H 



get N j H , and this is called an amine / actually it is 



[C 2 H 6 



ethylamine, for the radical C 2 U 5 is called ethyl. Now what 

 do you suppose are the properties of ethylamine ? They re- 

 semble those of ammonia very closely ; it is a gas, with a 

 pungent, not disagreeable odor, very soluble in water, unites 

 with acids to form crystalline salts, etc., just like ammonia; 

 so that the substitution of the group C 2 H 5 for H has made 

 but little change in the properties. Do you ask how 

 this exchange is actually performed in a laboratory ? We 

 will tell you. A liquid called ethyl iodide, C 2 H 5 T, is put 

 into a strong glass tube with a solution of ammonia ; the 

 tube is then sealed, and heated by immersion in boiling 

 water. In a short time a new body is formed, having a 

 very long name. The tube is then opened, and its contents 

 heated in a retort with potassium hydrate, when the ethyl- 

 amine distills over and dissolves out in the water, which 

 condenses at the same time. We have explained roughly 

 this operation in order to give you some idea how a chem- 



