Consider the following aromatic and aliphatic amines: Ammonia, Methylamine, Diethylamine, N,N-Dimeth — Amines Chemistry Question
Question
Consider the following aromatic and aliphatic amines: Ammonia, Methylamine, Diethylamine, N,N-Dimethylaniline, and Aniline. How many of these five species possess an intrinsic basic strength strictly greater than that of Aniline in aqueous solution?
💡 Solution & Explanation
Aniline is an exceptionally weak base because its nitrogen lone pair is heavily delocalized into the $\pi$ -system of the benzene ring via resonance. Ammonia, Methylamine, and Diethylamine are aliphatic (no resonance delocalization) and are significantly stronger bases. N,N-dimethylaniline is also stronger than aniline because the two methyl groups attached to the nitrogen provide an electron-releasing (+I) effect that increases electron density despite the resonance. Total = 4.