What does ethylamine mean?
Ethylamine is a simple organic compound consisting of an ethyl group (a two-carbon chain) bonded to an amino group, giving it the chemical formula C₂H₅NH₂. It exists as a colourless gas at room temperature — boiling at about 16.6 °C — and carries a sharp, fishy odour reminiscent of ammonia, a hallmark of small amines. Highly soluble in water and readily flammable, it is usually stored and transported as a liquefied gas or in solution. Industrially, ethylamine serves mainly as a building block: it is used to produce herbicides such as atrazine, various pharmaceuticals, dyes, rubber-processing chemicals, and surfactants. The word appears almost entirely within chemistry, chemical engineering, and related technical literature, and is generally used as an uncountable mass noun when naming the substance. Though obscure outside laboratories, it exemplifies how modest molecules underpin much of modern manufacturing, making it a useful word for anyone reading scientific material or studying introductory chemistry.
nounA colourless, flammable organic compound with the formula C₂H₅NH₂, having a strong ammonia-like odour; it is the simplest ethyl-substituted amine and is used chiefly as an intermediate in the manufacture of dyes, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and other chemicals.
- The colourless, ammonia-smelling gas CH₃CH₂NH₂, the simplest ethyl-substituted primary amine, used industrially as a chemical intermediate.
"The chemist distilled ethylamine from the reaction mixture and stored it under pressure in a sealed cylinder."
"Ethylamine boils at just 16.6 °C, so it must be kept refrigerated or under pressure to remain a liquid."
"In the synthesis, ethylamine reacted with the acid chloride to form an amide bond."
Rarely pluralised; the plural occurs only when referring to distinct samples, derivatives, or molecular instances rather than the substance in general.
"Several volatile ethylamines were detected in the gas chromatograph analysis."
Despite being a simple two-carbon molecule with a pungent ammonia smell, ethylamine sits at the heart of countless industrial products — from weedkillers to medicines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of ethylamine
The term combines 'ethyl', coined in the 19th century from German Äthyl (ultimately from Greek 'aither', meaning ether or upper air), with 'amine', a contraction of 'ammonia' that chemists adopted for nitrogen compounds. It belongs to a family of systematic names — methylamine, propylamine, butylamine — built on this same pattern during the development of modern organic nomenclature.
How ethylamine is actually used
Strictly a technical term of chemistry, used almost exclusively in scientific and industrial contexts rather than everyday speech. It is typically treated as an uncountable substance name when referring to the material itself, but can be countable when referring to individual molecules or samples.
Easily confused with ethylamine
Ethanolamine (HOCH₂CH₂NH₂) contains a hydroxyl group on its carbon chain and is a liquid at room temperature, whereas ethylamine (C₂H₅NH₂) has only hydrogen atoms attached to its carbons and is normally handled as a compressed gas.
Diethylamine has two ethyl groups bonded to one nitrogen atom and is a liquid, while ethylamine has a single ethyl group and is a gas at ordinary temperatures.