Alkanolamine

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Organic compounds with hydroxyl and amino groups on an alkane backbone

title: "Alkanolamine" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["alcohols", "amines"] description: "Organic compounds with hydroxyl and amino groups on an alkane backbone" topic_path: "general/alcohols" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkanolamine" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Organic compounds with hydroxyl and amino groups on an alkane backbone ::

In organic chemistry, alkanolamines (amino alcohols) are organic compounds that contain both hydroxyl () and amino (, , and ) functional groups on an alkane backbone. Alkanolamine's bifunctionality and physicochemical characteristics lead to its use in many applications, such as textiles, cosmetics, agricultural chemical intermediates, drugs, and metal working fluids. Alkanolamines are present in many approved drugs and thousands of natural products. Two amino acids are alkanolamines, formally speaking: serine and hydroxyproline.

Alkanolamines usually have high-solubility in water due to the hydrogen bonding ability of both the hydroxyl group and the amino group. Alkanoamines have also shown a broad toxicity for a variety of organisms, including parasites, insect larvae and eggs, and microbes. Studies have also shown that the antimicrobial effect of alkanolamines increases in higher pH's. Most alkanolamines are colorless.

1-Aminoalcohols

1-Aminoalcohols are better known as hemiaminals. Methanolamine is the simplest member. 1-Aminoalcohols tend to be labile, readily converting to more highly condensed derivatives or hydrolyzing to the amine and carbonyl.

2-Aminoalcohols

Routes

2-Aminoalcohols are often generated by the reaction of amines with epoxides: : Hydrogenation or reduction of amino acids gives a large family of chiral 2-aminoalcohols: : Examples include prolinol (from proline), valinol (from valine), tyrosinol (from tyrosine). Some 2-aminoalcohols are produced by the Sharpless asymmetric amino hydroxylation.

Uses and examples

Simple alkanolamines are used as solvents, synthetic intermediates, and high-boiling bases.

2-Aminoalcohols have been used as synthetic building blocks and chiral auxiliaries.Amino ethanols have been proven to be vital precursors for chiral morpholines and piperazines. Key members: ethanolamine, dimethylethanolamine, N-methylethanolamine, Aminomethyl propanol. Two popular drugs, often called alkanolamine beta blockers, are members of this structural class: propranolol, pindolol. 2-Aminoalcohols can also be found in the direct action subgroup of adrenergic drugs such as epinephrine, isoproterenol, phenylephrine and isoetarine.

Other medicinally useful derivative of ethanolamine: Isoetarine, veratridine, veratrine, epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), atropine.

1,3- to 1,7-amino alcohols

Two examples of longer aminoalcohols include Heptaminol, a cardiac stimulant, and propanolamines.

1,3-Aminoalcohols are present in several bioactive molecules, such as Sedinone, Dumetorine, and Hygroline. 1,3-Aminoalcohols have be synthesize through a couple methods. Similar to 2-aminoalcohols, 1,3 aminoalcohols can be formed through ring openings, such as an azo-ring opening and addition. 1,3-aminoalcohols can also be synthesized through an azo-aldol condensation or an intermolecular C-H activation.

1,4 and 1,5-aminoalcohols have been synthesized through the reduction of cyclic amides. Catalyzed alkylation of primary amines with 1,4-butanediol is another synthetic route for 1,4-aminoalcohols. Larger amino alcohol (1,5 - and up) synthesis is comparatively underdeveloped. Electrochemical ring-openings can produce 1,3 to 1,7-aminoalcohols.

References

References

  1. (1997). "Environmental Assessment of the Alkanolamines". Springer New York.
  2. (2024-04-17). "γ-Amino Alcohols via Energy Transfer Enabled Brook Rearrangement". Journal of the American Chemical Society.
  3. "Amino Alcohols - Alfa Chemistry".
  4. (March 1990). "Selective toxicity of alkanolamines". Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.
  5. (2025). "Recent advances in catalytic enantioselective synthesis of vicinal amino alcohols". Chemical Society Reviews.
  6. (2002). "The Sharpless asymmetric aminohydroxylation". Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1.
  7. Herranz, E.; Sharpless, K. B.. (1983). "Osmium-Catalyzed Vicinal Oxyamination of Olefins by Chloramine-T: ''cis''-2-(''p''-Toluenesulfonamido)cyclohexanol and 2-Methyl-3-(''p''-Toluenesulfonamido)-2-Pentanol". Org. Synth..
  8. (2022). "Ethanolamines and Propanolamines". Wiley-VCH.
  9. (January 2025). "Stereoselective amino alcohol synthesis via chemoselective electrocatalytic radical cross-couplings". Nature Chemistry.
  10. (1996-01-01). "1,2-Amino Alcohols and Their Heterocyclic Derivatives as Chiral Auxiliaries in Asymmetric Synthesis". Chemical Reviews.
  11. "Propranolol Monograph for Professionals".
  12. "Pindolol Uses, Side Effects & Warnings".
  13. (2014-11-27). "Blood pressure lowering efficacy of partial agonist beta blocker monotherapy for primary hypertension". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
  14. Vardanyan, R. S.; Hruby, V. J. (2006-01-01), Vardanyan, R. S.; Hruby, V. J. (eds.), "11 - Adrenergic (Sympathomimetic) Drugs", ''Synthesis of Essential Drugs'', Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 143–159, {{ISBN. 978-0-444-52166-8, retrieved 2025-03-28
  15. Wang, Wei. (2020). "Progress on the Synthesis of 1,3-Amino Alcohol". Chinese Journal of Organic Chemistry.
  16. Xiao, Zhen. (2018). "An efficient and atom-economical route to N -aryl amino alcohols from primary amines". RSC Advances.
  17. Fang, Xinyue. (2025). "Paired Electro-Synthesis of Remote Amino Alcohols with/in H2O". Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

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