Dimethylamine

Dimethylamine is used in the manufactureof N-methylformamide, N-methylacetamide,and detergent soaps; in tanning; and as anaccelerator in vulcanizing rubber. It is commercially sold as a compressed liquid intubes or as a 33% aqueous solution..
Dimethylamine reacts readily with acids to produce salts due to the presence of the unshared electron pair on the nitrogen atom. Similarly, dimethylamine reacts with acid anhydrides, halides, and esters, with CO2 or CS2, or with isocyanic or isothiocyanic acid derivatives. It can also react with nitrite, especially under acidic conditions, and possibly nitrogen oxides (Iqbel 1986) to form N-nitrosodimethylamine, a potent carcinogen in various animal species and a suspect human carcinogen (ATSDR 1989; Scanlan 1983; Zeisel et al 1988). N-Nitrosodimethylamine also can be formed upon storage of aqueous dimethylamine solutions or formulations of the dimethylamine salts of the herbicides 2,4D and MCPA (Wigfield and McLenaghan 1987a,b). Dimethylamine also can be nitrosated photochemically in aqueous solutions containing nitrite with the reaction occurring most readily at alkaline pH (Ohta et al 1982).