Difference Between Ethylamine and Diethylamine

The key difference between ethylamine and diethylamine is that ethylamine is a colourless gas, whereas diethylamine is a brown liquid.

Ethylamine and diethylamine are closely related since both of them are amines containing ethyl groups. However, ethylamine has one ethyl group and diethylamine has two. Therefore, there are few differences between ethylamine and diethylamine.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Ethylamine 
3. What is Diethylamine
4. Side by Side Comparison – Ethylamine vs Diethylamine in Tabular Form
5. Summary

What is Ethylamine?

Ethylamine is an aliphatic organic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NH₂. It occurs as a colourless gas and has a strong odour similar to ammonia. Usually, it is miscible with all the solvents. The molar mass of this compound is 45.08 g/mol.

Moreover, there are two major processes for the large scale production of this compound. The most common method is the reaction between ethanol and ammonia in the presence of a catalyst. The other method is the production by reductive amination of acetaldehyde.

There are several important applications of ethylamine. It is a precursor to the production of herbicides such as atrazine and simazine. Also, it is a useful precursor for the synthesis of cyclidine dissociative anaesthetic agents.

What is Diethylamine?

Diethylamine is an aliphatic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NHCH₂CH₃. According to this chemical structure, this compound has two ethyl groups attached to the same nitrogen atom in the amine group. Hence, it is a secondary amine.

Moreover, this compound occurs as a flammable and colourless liquid. It is miscible with many solvents. Besides, this liquid often appears in brown colour due to the presence of impurities. Further, we can produce diethylamine using the reaction between ethanol and ammonia in the presence of a catalyst. The reaction gives both ethylamine and diethylamine.

What is the Difference Between Ethylamine and Diethylamine?

Ethylamine is an aliphatic organic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NH₂ while Diethylamine is an aliphatic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NHCH₂CH₃. The key difference between ethylamine and diethylamine is that ethylamine is a colourless gas, whereas diethylamine is a brown liquid.

Furthermore, when considering the structure of these compounds, there is one ethyl group attached to the amine group in ethylamine while in diethylamine, there are two ethyl group attached to the amine group. So, in terms of structure, this is a difference between ethylamine and diethylamine.

Below infographic presents more details on the difference between ethylamine and diethylamine.

Summary – Ethylamine vs Diethylamine

Ethylamine is an aliphatic organic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NH₂ while Diethylamine is an aliphatic compound having the chemical formula CH₃CH₂NHCH₂CH₃. The key difference between ethylamine and diethylamine is that ethylamine is a colourless gas, whereas diethylamine is a brown liquid.

Reference:

1. “Diethylamine.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. PubChem Compound Database, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Ethylamine-2D-flat” By Benjah-bmm27 – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “DiethylamineSVG” By Arrowsmaster – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia