Chemistry has a habit of taking everyday building blocks and turning them into workhorse materials for global industries. sec-Butylamine, known to chemists for over a century, popped up first as a curious result of early alkylamine experiments. Synthetic methods kept evolving throughout the 1900s, making this secondary amine more accessible for industrial use and purer for specialized tasks. Chemical demand shaped its production as the world needed more agrochemical intermediates, various resins, and pharmaceutical agents. Companies saw potential in each tweak to the process, refining catalysts and distillation setups. The story of sec-Butylamine tracks not just with manufacturing advances but with the expansion of downstream applications. As demand surged for specific amines in drug synthesis and polymer production, sec-Butylamine transformed from a chemical footnote to a frontline ingredient. The business behind this molecule mirrors greater trends in science and commerce—move fast, adapt, and meet the world’s needs.
sec-Butylamine shows up as a colorless to slightly yellow liquid with a sharp odor that reminds many of ammonia’s bite. Its chemical formula, C4H11N, masks its versatility. Once confined to lab bottles, now sec-Butylamine finds a home on factory floors and in research kits worldwide. Bulk shipments, with drums labeled and handled with care, help fuel industries from pharmaceuticals to rubber manufacturing. Chemists appreciate its balance of reactivity and stability compared to cousins like n-butylamine or tert-butylamine. Supply chains for sec-Butylamine stretch from major chemical producers in Asia, Europe, and North America to countless smaller firms blending, packaging, or further modifying it. This amine stands out for how it bridges raw ingredients and finished products, making it a thread that connects agriculture, medicine, and coatings in practical ways.
Open a drum and you’ll find a pungent liquid boiling at around 63°C, well below water’s boiling point. At room temperature, sec-Butylamine evaporates easily, sending up those telltale vapors. It dissolves in water, alcohol, and many organic solvents, lending itself to both laboratory and industrial reactions. With a molecular weight just over 73 g/mol and a density of about 0.73 g/cm3 at 20°C, it usually floats on water. Its flammability demands careful storage and strict control of ignition sources. Workers must respect its corrosive qualities, especially for eyes and skin. From an organic chemistry standpoint, sec-Butylamine’s secondary amine functionality opens the door for a host of derivatization reactions, key in making agrochemical actives or complex pharmaceuticals.
Manufacturers and regulators expect clear labels for a compound with as much impact—and risk—as sec-Butylamine. Technical data sheets summarize key properties: purity (typically above 99%), water content, color index, and non-volatile residue. Labels reference international transport standards for hazardous chemicals, such as UN 2733 and hazard class 3 for flammability. Accompanying documents highlight the flash point, recommended storage temperatures, and imposed exposure limits. Seeing differences in specifications from supplier to supplier comes down to intended uses—pharmaceutical synthesis demands ultra-high purity, while agricultural intermediates might tolerate minute amounts of impurities. In my own work with chemical or pharmaceutical clients, I’ve learned to scrutinize specification sheets for hidden contaminants that could sabotage downstream processes.
Old journals describe sec-Butylamine synthesis from sec-butyl halides reacting with ammonia, but these days, catalytic hydrogenation of corresponding nitro or oxime derivatives delivers better yields and purity. Commercial plants often rely on batch reactors with carefully dosed hydrogen and catalysts like nickel or copper-chromite. Control over reaction temperature, pressure, and ammonia concentration tailors selectivity. After synthesis, distillation removes water and traces of unreacted starting materials, giving a clean product. Research groups keep hunting for greener methods—finding ways to use milder conditions or less hazardous reagents. Across industries, reducing energy and solvent usage matters to limit waste, cut costs, and meet tightening regulations.
Chemists relish sec-Butylamine for its versatility. The secondary amine group enables formation of amides, ureas, and other derivatives crucial for pharmaceutical precursors. In rubber manufacturing, sec-Butylamine reacts with carbon disulfide and alkyl halides to create accelerators. Its affinity for acids means it neutralizes in controlled reactions, producing stable salts good for storage or further chemistry. Alkylation and acylation open doors for custom molecules in both small- and large-scale synthesis. Not all modifications go smoothly; side reactions or overalkylation bring headaches. Experienced teams track impurities rigorously and tweak conditions to favor selectivity, having seen how trace byproducts can mess with yield, safety, and environmental compliance.
Looking for sec-Butylamine in registries means wading through a sea of synonyms: 2-Butanamine, sec-butylamine, SBA, and secondary butylamine share shelf space on chemical indexes. Some suppliers tag it as UN2733 or reference its CAS Number 13952-84-6 to avoid mix-ups. You’ll come across trade names or custom blends targeted at niche applications, especially in pharmaceutical excipients or specialty polymers. Staying organized with synonyms has saved me more than once from ordering a similar-sounding isomer by mistake—or worse, using the wrong compound in a sensitive synthesis.
Sec-Butylamine’s hazards are real and immediate. Exposure means respiratory irritation, chemical burns, and fire risk. Industrial facilities install robust ventilation and monitor air with detectors. Operators don gloves, goggles, and chemical suits. Spills receive immediate neutralization with absorbent materials and proper disposal. Warehouses keep sec-Butylamine away from oxidizers and ignition sources, usually in pressure-relief drums or stainless steel tanks. Regulatory oversight comes from OSHA, REACH, and local agencies, demanding proper training and strict record-keeping. Over my years in project management, safety audits around amines never cut corners—those ammonia-like vapors signal trouble if not managed from storage through use.
Look inside the sprawling supply chain for agrochemicals, and sec-Butylamine powers herbicide synthesis, especially products like atrazine. In pharmaceuticals, it serves as a starting material or protective group in active ingredient synthesis, helping construct molecules with complex nitrogen arrangements. The rubber industry transforms sec-Butylamine into accelerators that boost vulcanization efficiency, shaping a world built on tough, flexible tires and seals. It also enters the world of corrosion inhibitors, dye intermediates, and resin modifiers. Readers might not see sec-Butylamine listed on product labels, but these sectors depend on it to sustain growth and constant innovation.
Research into sec-Butylamine circles around both better production processes and novel applications. Labs experiment with newer catalytic systems that trim byproduct waste or save on precious metals. R&D teams explore sec-Butylamine analogues designed for specific pharmaceuticals, aiming for better bioavailability or selectivity. Advances in continuous flow chemistry promise safer operations and easier scalability. Data on enzyme-mediated modifications of sec-Butylamine hints at future biotechnological uses, crafting gentler, more sustainable chemical routes. My own experience working alongside process chemists confirms those incremental improvements—drop in operator risk, a boost in purity, or a more robust intermediate—drive big wins at plant scale.
No chemistry story is complete without facing health risks head-on. Toxicologists evaluate sec-Butylamine for acute and chronic risks. Animal studies show potential for mucous membrane irritation, while higher doses contribute to neurological symptoms or even systemic toxicity. Environmental persistence brings regulatory scrutiny, given concerns about contamination in groundwater near manufacturing facilities. Workplace regulations peg allowable exposure limits to reduce cancer and neurologic risk. New models use in vitro systems to predict long-term outcomes, feeding into more effective personal protective equipment and emergency protocols. It always pays to review the latest MSDS and keep on top of regulatory shifts before rolling out or scaling up its use.
Sec-Butylamine faces plenty of opportunity and a handful of hurdles. Sustainability concerns push chemical makers to cut emissions, retool processes for less waste, and chase recycled or bio-based feedstocks. Demand grows from pharmaceutical and agrochemical applications with stricter purity and performance bars. New research points to more efficient synthetic routes, often leveraging green chemistry. As regulation tightens on emissions and worker protection, companies invest in safer handling systems and continuous monitoring technologies. From my point of view, those who innovate around process safety and environmental stewardship will keep sec-Butylamine relevant in a changing landscape. Chemistry never stands still, and neither does this classic secondary amine.
Sec-butylamine shows up in more places than most folks would expect. Walk through a chemical plant or look at a pharmaceutical lab’s raw ingredients, there is a good chance sec-butylamine will make the list. Its basic formula—C4H11N—doesn’t look like much on paper, but in practice, the stuff gets a lot done. From my own time working at a small agricultural supply company, sec-butylamine always held a kind of quiet importance. We usually kept it on the back shelves, labeled strong and clear, because only a handful of staff handled it, always with gloves and solid ventilation.
Sec-butylamine draws most attention from folks working with crop chemicals. It’s an important building block for herbicides—substances that help farmers deal with stubborn weeds. Without it, modern selective herbicides like butralin and some phenoxy herbicide families would be tough to manufacture. While a growing number of people are looking to organic farming and fewer chemicals on their veggies, the world still produces a lot of food that relies on modern crop protection. Field-tested data from the Food and Agriculture Organization shows as much as half the world’s food production would take a major hit without such tools. For many struggling rural communities, these chemicals keep yields up during tough seasons.
Pharmaceutical companies use sec-butylamine as a starting point for making drugs that treat everything from hypertension to bacterial infections. A lot of this comes down to its simple amine structure, which lets it slip into reaction pathways that build complex molecules. In drug research, flexibility speeds up the process, saves companies money, and often leads to lifesaving products ending up on pharmacy shelves. Anyone who has ever seen the paperwork, regulations, and timelines of drug production knows how valuable each shortcut becomes. In my own experience, a new antihypertensive compound that used a sec-butylamine precursor shaved weeks off standard bench-lab timelines, getting important clinical samples to doctors faster.
Beyond crops and medicine, sec-butylamine steps into the world of rubber, plastics, and surfactants. Tire factories use derivatives of this compound to give car tires better bounce, life, and resistance to cracking. Without these additives, tires wear out faster, costing car owners more and dumping extra waste into the environment. Plastics sometimes include sec-butylamine-based compounds that resist fading and brittleness, standing up to sunlight and everyday use. Even laundry detergents benefit—some advanced surfactants clean better and stay safer for skin, thanks to a chemical process that starts with this little amine.
Handling sec-butylamine carries risks few should ignore. Its strong ammonia-like smell is hard to miss, and skin or eye contact burns fast. Chemical workers train hard to avoid spills, since the amine can irritate lungs or poison water if it seeps into drains. Tight rules on air and water discharge already exist in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. Responsible companies use fume hoods, personal protective gear, and sealed systems. As global industry keeps growing, tighter monitoring and safer replacement chemistries will make a difference—balancing chemistry’s benefits with health for workers, neighbors, and the planet.
Sec-butylamine drives real progress in farming, medicine, and everyday goods. Seeing it move quietly through so many supply chains each year reminds us why chemical know-how matters in daily life. With smart handling on factory floors and an eye on safer chemistry, these tools bring benefits that ripple out far beyond the lab.
sec-Butylamine goes by the chemical formula C4H11N. For those interested in the actual structure, it can be drawn as CH3CH(NH2)CH2CH3. That’s not just trivia for chemistry students. In a world driven by manufacturing, safe food supplies, and pharmaceuticals, knowing the makeup of what you’re working with can be critical. I remember my chemistry days in college, sweating over molecular structures like sec-butylamine, because small changes in arrangement can create entirely different properties for related compounds. It’s not about memorization—it’s about truly understanding behavior at the most basic level.
This compound belongs to the family of alkylamines, which pop up in all sorts of industrial and lab settings. sec-Butylamine stands out because there’s more than one butylamine and their structures mean everything for how they react. The “sec-” bit tells you the amine group (that’s the NH2 part) attaches to the second carbon in the chain. That one detail changes not just the name but also its boiling point, how it smells, and how your skin or lungs might react if you happen to meet it outside a controlled lab.
In agriculture, sec-Butylamine shows up in the process for making pesticides. In pharmaceuticals, it’s used as a building block for certain drugs. The pharma industry leans on compounds like this since their chemical backbone provides flexibility when fine-tuning medicinal molecules. Understanding the exact makeup allows researchers to anticipate how sec-Butylamine fits in larger syntheses or what safety precautions should be followed to protect workers and the environment. In my own experience working near chemical facilities, knowing what you’re dealing with isn’t just about the chemistry—it's about accountability, whether that’s in safety briefings or regulatory paperwork from agencies like OSHA and EPA.
Sec-Butylamine doesn’t just dissolve into thin air once it’s used. Its vapors have sharp, ammonia-like odors, which many people find unpleasant or even irritating. There’s risk involved in mishandling, since amines can trigger headaches, respiratory irritation, or bigger industrial incidents if spills happen without containment. I’ve seen firsthand how a small mistake with what looks like an unremarkable compound can put an entire shift on alert. Training and respect for chemical handling can’t be skipped, which means staying sharp about the chemical formula and its behavior in different temperatures and storage conditions.
More industries aim to green up their processes. Efforts to replace hazardous materials lean on simple but crucial facts—the chemical formula, the precise arrangement of atoms. Chemists and safety experts need a deep fluency in these details, not just for research, but to build protocols and develop safer, cleaner alternatives down the line. Innovation starts by knowing the building blocks; sec-Butylamine’s formula is a small detail that anchors big decisions in science and manufacturing.
sec-Butylamine looks about as unremarkable as any clear, colorless liquid you might find on a chemical shelf. I’ve seen laboratories treat it too casually, stashing bottles on an open bench or grabbing it bare-handed for a quick synthesis. But the smell alone, sharp and a bit ammonia-like, is a warning. Inhaling the vapors can lead to headaches or cause irritation in your throat and nose. Prolonged contact with the skin, which happens if gloves fail or spillages go unnoticed, can leave burns or rashes.
It’s easy to underestimate vapors in a room that’s quiet and clean. sec-Butylamine forms flammable vapors that can catch fire at surprisingly low temperatures—its flash point is below room temperature. This fact slips by people who think storing it near a heat source or open flame is safe enough “just for a bit.” Stories circulate in chemistry labs—someone opens a bottle, static from a wool sweater triggers a spark, and flames leap up before anyone can react. Nothing drills in a lesson like seeing lab tape charred and bubbling from a quick fire.
A good chemical-resistant glove goes beyond the thin disposable kind. I always choose nitrile or neoprene when handling amines. One drop on cotton or latex, and you might as well toss the gloves in the trash. Splash goggles never felt optional after the time a classmate ended up with chemical droplets in their eye; the pain and recovery left no one trusting simple glasses again. Lab coats, buttoned fully, give protection that a T-shirt won’t.
Spills don’t wait for you to be ready, so anyone using sec-Butylamine should have clear access to eyewash stations and a safety shower. Those features turn into useless background scenery until urgency strikes. In smaller labs, there’s sometimes pressure to “work clean” because showers and eyewashes may be a hallway or two away, but that shortcut can painfully backfire.
Moving sec-Butylamine around under a fume hood might seem overcautious. The reality is, with chemicals like this, it’s the fumes that will catch you off-guard. Even a short uncapping in open air can leave a room reeking for hours, causing coworkers headaches, or worse. Fume hoods pull away the worst parts of vapor and reduce risk of inhalation. Years spent training students has taught me—if a strong odor lingers outside the hood, something’s gone wrong.
Glass bottles with tightly fitted caps are best, with labels in bold print that no one can miss. Flammables like sec-Butylamine belong in approved safety cabinets, nowhere near acids, oxidizers, or ignition sources. Combining incompatible chemicals because of rushed storage or unclear labeling triggers some of the nastiest lab accidents. Electrical panels sometimes get overlooked—heat from poorly vented machines or lamps has set off fires where carelessness ruled.
Fire extinguishers—Class B type for liquids—should always be close, never buried under paper or behind storage bins. Everyone on shift must know where they are and how to use them. Many chemists I know run drills or check expiration dates before starting a new project, just to be sure.
Bottles aren’t trash; waste sec-Butylamine goes in designated hazardous material containers, sealed and collected by professionals. Pouring it down the drain, as some did decades ago, contaminates water supplies and lands labs in deep regulatory trouble. Local rules matter, but so does respect for the place we live and work.
Emergencies get real fast—whether a bottle shatters or a flame erupts—so having a checklist and clear communication saves lives. I’ve found that quick reminders, visible signs, and a culture where everyone watches each other’s back, stops disasters more than equipment alone ever does.
People working with sec-Butylamine have to treat it with respect and a level of caution grounded in experience. This approach protects more than experiment results; it guards health and careers.
The first time I cracked open a drum of sec-Butylamine, that sharp, fishy smell clued me in: this isn’t just another chemical. Working with organic amines in the lab taught me to respect what can’t be seen as much as what fills the air. sec-Butylamine acts like a real fire starter—highly flammable, its vapors catch a spark faster than you might believe. Some folks shrug off proper storage after hours of safe handling, but situations change quickly.
Mix sec-Butylamine with air and you set up a cocktail that wants to ignite. Toss in heat, open flames, static, or even just a hot motor, and now you’re cooking up trouble. It’s not just fire, either. The vapors can irritate eyes, lungs, and skin. Breathing them in over time can leave workers with headaches and breathing troubles. My own gloves felt sticky more than once—at least until I switched to nitrile and doubled up.
One spilled beaker on a benchtop used to make me nervous. That’s small scale, but in production and warehousing, you can’t afford to cut corners with hundreds of liters. OSHA reported more than a few fire incidents linked to improper amine storage in the last decade. Each accident sends a clear message: handling sec-Butylamine loosely is gambling with safety.
It won’t win any design awards, but a good sec-Butylamine storage strategy starts with location. Keep it far from oxidizers. No mixing with acids, chlorine, or peroxides. I’ve seen forklifts parked too close to flammable cages—one spark and insurance won’t fix what’s gone.
Best bet is always using a dedicated, explosion-proof storage cabinet in a cool and dry area with solid ventilation. Temperature control sits front and center: anything higher than 25°C makes pressure rise in sealed drums, and that hiss from a loose gasket can turn into a real hazard. Humidity matters, too. Too much moisture leads to corrosion, and suddenly your sturdy metal container is full of pinholes. Once, during a summer heatwave, I found a sweating drum; replacing it before it leaked probably dodged a major problem.
Every drum should carry bold hazard labels, and stock should cycle regularly. Sitting on expired stock, as I once learned, just means you forget what’s lurking in the back of the storeroom. Secure everything with tight lids. That goes double for any stuff pulled into smaller containers for lab use—nobody wants vapor leaking into open air overnight.
Training pays off. Nobody learns the hard way twice, but nobody should need that first close call. Regular safety drills and reviews build muscle memory. Fume hoods pull vapors away before they reach lungs, and static grounding chains on containers zap away the chance of accidental ignition.
Setting up digital inventory helps track dates, avoid overstocking, and flag almost-empty drums. Maintenance on containers and cabinets usually gets skipped, but a five-minute inspection means catching rust or dents before disaster.
Fire suppression systems around storage areas aren’t just boxes to check off on a safety audit—they’re lifesavers. Working in factories with a direct link to the fire department gave me peace of mind, especially after seeing one small fire extinguished before it ate up half a warehouse.
Safe storage of sec-Butylamine doesn’t happen on paper. It happens every day, every shift, from the materials manager to the person stacking drums. Research backs this up: companies that focus on routine oversight have fewer incidents—even across industries. The tools exist; making sure people use them can spell the difference between routine work and an emergency phone call nobody wants to make.
Anyone who’s handled chemicals on a manufacturing floor or overseen a lab setup understands that an impurity in a single raw material can turn out to be the root cause of scrap, safety incidents, or quality trouble. sec-Butylamine plays a crucial role in the production of pharmaceuticals, rubber chemicals, and crop protection agents. Each application comes with non-negotiable criteria for material quality, and the issue of purity should never get brushed aside as a technicality.
Suppliers usually offer sec-Butylamine with a purity of 99% or greater. Leading chemical producers publish product specs that spell out numbers like “≥99.5% by GC,” meaning most batches deliver at least that percentage when measured by gas chromatography. These specs help chemists and plant engineers breathe easier since small changes in purity can have big effects on reaction profiles or safety measures. Anything much below the 99% mark—sometimes encountered in specialty or bespoke formulations—starts ringing warning bells for anyone familiar with large-scale or regulated processes.
Beyond just quoting the main percentage, suppliers break down other key numbers on the certificate of analysis. You’ll usually see moisture content (water, w/w) listed, with tight controls around 0.05% or lower. Residual solvents, color, and even low-molecular-weight amines appear in the stats, because each can trip up downstream chemistry. On a personal note, I’ve seen even tiny traces of other amines trigger costly waste disposal measures, especially if the material goes on to pharmaceutical production.
Producers run their own in-house analyses on every lot. Techniques like gas chromatography, Karl Fischer titration, or UV-visible spectroscopy come into play. I’ve worked alongside chemists who swore by double-checking supplier numbers with quick in-house screens—especially if they’re working under GMP or ISO certifications. This double layer builds trust and catches the rare mislabel or mishap before it snowballs into legal headaches or lost batches.
Left unchecked, a batch with substandard purity can cause variation in yields and final product quality. In pharmaceuticals, side products or impurities can become regulatory liabilities, sometimes pushing a whole batch into the waste bin. In manufacturing settings, poor purity often means extra time in troubleshooting, cleaning, and documentation. I’ve watched teams track down the cause of a failed reaction for weeks, only to end up back at the raw material spec sheet. Every seasoned technician learns to ask suppliers for recent batch analyses and to keep them on file—regulators and auditors love that paper trail.
Reliable suppliers maintain transparent documentation, offer technical data sheets for every batch, and submit to external audits. They don’t hesitate to talk through batch histories or provide extra samples. The best vendors are willing to answer technical questions about origins, testing frequency, and shipping methods. It’s worth connecting directly with a technical rep when testing a new supplier or planning to scale up, since details such as storage and transport conditions can make the difference between a useable and a compromised delivery.
For anyone sourcing sec-Butylamine for mission-critical work, basic due diligence doesn’t stop at a single purchase. Good teams keep logs of each lot, compare certificates of analysis over time, and keep an eye out for deviations. Those who rely on this compound for business or research know that investing in quality saves money and stress down the road. Solid purity specs represent more than technical performance—they signal professionalism and respect for everyone using the product further along the line.
| Names | |
| Preferred IUPAC name | butan-2-amine |
| Other names |
sec-Butanamine
2-Butanamine 1-Methylpropylamine 2-Butylamine |
| Pronunciation | /ˌsɛkˈbjuː.tɪl.ə.miːn/ |
| Identifiers | |
| CAS Number | 78-81-9 |
| 3D model (JSmol) | `/NCC(C)C` |
| Beilstein Reference | 605785 |
| ChEBI | CHEBI:35727 |
| ChEMBL | CHEMBL1200407 |
| ChemSpider | 12054 |
| DrugBank | DB13819 |
| ECHA InfoCard | ECHA InfoCard: 100.003.168 |
| EC Number | 200-867-1 |
| Gmelin Reference | 56746 |
| KEGG | C01717 |
| MeSH | D013631 |
| PubChem CID | 7904 |
| RTECS number | EK3675000 |
| UNII | W83L30F4KH |
| UN number | UN2015 |
| Properties | |
| Chemical formula | C4H11N |
| Molar mass | 73.14 g/mol |
| Appearance | Colorless liquid |
| Odor | Ammonia-like |
| Density | 0.724 g/mL at 25 °C |
| Solubility in water | Miscible |
| log P | 0.57 |
| Vapor pressure | 4.4 kPa (at 20 °C) |
| Acidity (pKa) | 10.7 |
| Basicity (pKb) | 3.30 |
| Magnetic susceptibility (χ) | -6.20 × 10⁻⁶ cm³/mol |
| Refractive index (nD) | 1.396 |
| Viscosity | 0.410 mPa·s (at 20 °C) |
| Dipole moment | 4.24 D |
| Thermochemistry | |
| Std molar entropy (S⦵298) | 210.6 J·mol⁻¹·K⁻¹ |
| Std enthalpy of formation (ΔfH⦵298) | −49.8 kJ·mol⁻¹ |
| Std enthalpy of combustion (ΔcH⦵298) | -3972.8 kJ/mol |
| Hazards | |
| GHS labelling | GHS02, GHS05, GHS06 |
| Pictograms | GHS02,GHS05,GHS07 |
| Signal word | Warning |
| Precautionary statements | Precautionary statements of sec-Butylamine: "P210, P261, P280, P305+P351+P338, P310, P370+P378, P403+P235 |
| NFPA 704 (fire diamond) | 3-3-0 |
| Flash point | 36 °C |
| Autoignition temperature | 312 °C (594 °F; 585 K) |
| Explosive limits | 1.4% - 11.3% |
| Lethal dose or concentration | LD50 oral rat 650 mg/kg |
| LD50 (median dose) | LD50 (median dose) of sec-Butylamine: "165 mg/kg (oral, rat) |
| NIOSH | SEB |
| PEL (Permissible) | PEL (Permissible Exposure Limit) for sec-Butylamine: 5 ppm (18 mg/m³) |
| REL (Recommended) | 20 ppm |
| IDLH (Immediate danger) | 40 ppm |
| Related compounds | |
| Related compounds |
1-Aminobutane
Isobutylamine tert-Butylamine |
