Difference Between Solvolysis and Aminolysis

The key difference between solvolysis and aminolysis is that solvolysis can be either an addition or substitution reaction, whereas aminolysis is a substitution reaction.

Solvolysis and aminolysis are reactions that involve chemical bond cleavage. This is why they are named with the suffix “-lysis”. Depending on the reaction conditions, the prefixes are different from each other; in solvolysis, there is a solvent as a nucleophile while in aminolysis, ammonia or an amine is an essential component.

CONTENTS

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

What is Solvolysis?

Solvolysis is a chemical reaction that is either a nucleophilic addition or a nucleophilic substitution where the nucleophile is a solvent. When considering the nucleophilic substitution reaction type, we can observe it as either SN1 or SN2 reactions.

As a characteristic of SN1 solvolysis reaction, the chiral compound act as a reactant which affords the racemate formed from the reaction. We can classify solvolysis reactions depending on the type of solvent used for the reaction. For example, if we use water as the solvent, then it is hydrolysis. Similarly, if we use an alcohol as the solvent, then it is alcoholysis; if we use ammonia, then it is ammonolysis, etc.

What is Aminolysis?

Aminolysis is a chemical reaction in which a chemical compound reacts with either ammonia or amine group, which causes that molecule to split apart. Here, a substitution reaction occurs (the amine group substitutes a part of the reactant molecule). if the reactant reacts with ammonia, the specific name for that reaction is ammonolysis.

There are different types of aminolysis reactions including the replacement of a halide in an alkyl compound with an amine group, synthesis of peptides, synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids, etc. Aminolysis reaction is useful in PET degradation where we can get three different products which are symmetrical and asymmetrical.

What is the Difference Between Solvolysis and Aminolysis?

Solvolysis and aminolysis are reactions that involve chemical bond cleavage. That is the reason for naming them with the suffix “-lysis”. Depending on the reaction conditions, the prefixes are different from each other; in solvolysis, there is a solvent as a nucleophile, while in aminolysis, ammonia or an amine is an essential component. Furthermore, the key difference between solvolysis and aminolysis is that solvolysis can be either an addition or substitution reaction, but aminolysis is a substitution reaction. Besides, there are different types of solvolysis reactions such as hydrolysis, alcoholysis, ammonolysis, aminolysis, etc. Similarly, there are different types of aminolysis such as replacement of halide in alkyl halides, synthesis of peptides, synthesis of amides from carboxylic acids, etc.

Below infographic tabulates the differences between solvolysis and aminolysis.

Summary – Solvolysis vs Aminolysis

Solvolysis and aminolysis are reactions that involve chemical bond cleavage. That is the reason for naming them with the suffix “-lysis”. Depending on the reaction conditions, the prefixes are different from each other; in solvolysis, there is a solvent as a nucleophile, while in aminolysis, ammonia or an amine is an essential component. Moreover, the key difference between solvolysis and aminolysis is that solvolysis can be either an addition or substitution reaction, but aminolysis is a substitution reaction.

Reference:

1.“Solvolysis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 May 2019, Available here.
2. “Aminolysis.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2019, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Simple Polysaccharide Hydrolysis” By Sarah Greenwood – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “PET degradation with polyamines through aminolysis route” By Fong-Wind – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia