Why do amines act as nucleophiles? Give example of a reaction in which methylamine acts as a nucleophile.
Nucleophiles are aliphatic amines. This is owing to the fact that nitrogen has a lone pair of electrons. Aromatic amines are nucleophiles but not nucleophiles. This is due to the fact that the lone pair of electrons on nitrogen in aromatic amines is in resonance with the benzene ring and hence unavailable to nucleophile attack. Methyl amine acts as a nucleophile in the following reaction: When the lone pair on methyl amine reacts with the hydrogen ion, then it acts as a base When the lone pair on methyl amine reacts with any other atom other than the hydrogen , then it acts as a nucleophile:
