Butylamine

n-Butylamine is used as an intermediatefor various products, including dyestuffs,pharmaceuticals, rubber chemical, synthetictanning agents, and emulsifying agents. It isused for making isocyanates for coatings.
n-Butylamine is a derivative of ammonia in which one of the hydrogen atoms isreplaced with an alkyl group of four carbons. As such, it reacts with water andacids to form bases and salts, respectively. Acting as a very weak acid, it can reactwith acyl halides, anhydrides, and esters. With carbon disulfide and carbondioxide, it forms the butyl ammonium salt of dithiocarbamic and carbamic acids,respectively. With isocyanic acid and alkyl or aryl isocyanates, it forms substitutedureas. When reacted with nitrous acid, rc-butylamine forms butyl alcohol with therelease of nitrogen (Schweizer et al 1978).In the presence of water, rc-butylamine may corrode some metals (GeneralElectric Co 1986) and attack glass (Schweizer et al 1978). Liquid n-butylaminealso will attack some forms of plastics, rubber, and coatings (NIOSH 1981).