[xpboss]

Hi,

Can you please explain to me why amines act as reducing agent, or give me a reference that explains that ?

Thanks and regards

[kriggy]

Are they? cany you give example of such reaction?
Show us what you have done so far 

[xpboss]

Look up at the following paper:

Formation of Gold Nanoparticles Using Amine Reducing Agents

[clarkstill]

A reducing agent is just a donor of electrons, and pretty much anything can act as a reducing agent, provided the species you are reducing is a strong enough oxidant. In your example, Au absolutely does not want to be at the 3+ oxidation level, and a relatively mild reductant (such as the electrons in the lone pair of an amine) will reduce it to Au(0).

If you want to understand what can and cannot act as a reductant or oxidant for a particular reaction I suggest you learn about redox potentials.

[xpboss]

A reducing agent is just a donor of electrons, and pretty much anything can act as a reducing agent, provided the species you are reducing is a strong enough oxidant. In your example, Au absolutely does not want to be at the 3+ oxidation level, and a relatively mild reductant (such as the electrons in the lone pair of an amine) will reduce it to Au(0).

If you want to understand what can and cannot act as a reductant or oxidant for a particular reaction I suggest you learn about redox potentials.

Thanks for your reply. I do understand what are redox reactions, however, once the amine reduce the metal it turns into a radical which is not stable. Therefore, there would be a reasonable reason why it still happens. Maybe the amine overcome decomposition?