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Topic: which Nitrogen to Protonate  (Read 5972 times)

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Offline viet

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which Nitrogen to Protonate
« on: August 23, 2010, 05:57:26 PM »

I'm not sure which nitrogen would most likely to protonate in this structure.

Offline Doc Oc

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Re: which Nitrogen to Protonate
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2010, 07:35:04 PM »
All of those nitrogens are unique in their reactivity.  What are the key differences?

Offline viet

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Re: which Nitrogen to Protonate
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2010, 08:44:15 PM »
the key difference i think would be the Nitrogen that has 2 methyl groups, would that be the one to protonate?

Offline Doc Oc

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Re: which Nitrogen to Protonate
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2010, 11:00:53 PM »
You're on the right track, but just being bonded to methyl groups is not an indicator of anything.  The other nitrogens are also bonded to two carbons, but their reactivities are different.  There's more to it than that.

Offline lavoisier

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Re: which Nitrogen to Protonate
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2010, 01:11:33 PM »
viet, you could also look at it this way: for a nitrogen atom to be basic, it must be able to bind a proton (H+), using its electron pair.
In which of these 3 nitrogen atoms is the electron pair more available to be used in such a bond? And why is it less so in the other two?

(This is just a reformulation of what J-bone was trying to tell you.)

Offline viet

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Re: which Nitrogen to Protonate
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2010, 03:42:05 PM »
thanks

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