In organic chemistry, an aromatic amine is an organic compound consisting of an aromatic ring attached to an amine. It is a broad class of compounds that encompasses anilines, but also many more complex aromatic rings and many amine substituents beyond NH2. Such compounds occur widely.[1]
| Representative aromatic amines | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aromatic ring | Name of parent amines | Example | |||
| benzene | aniline | substituted anilines | |||
| phenylenediamines | the antioxidant p-phenylenediamine | ||||
| toluene | toluidines | the pharmaceutical prilocain | |||
| diaminotoluenes | the hair dye ingredient 2,5-diaminotoluene | ||||
| naphthalene | naphthylamines | the dyes Congo red and Prodan | |||
| pyridine | aminopyridines | the drug tenoxicam | |||
| pyrimidine | aminopyrimidines | the nucleobase cytosine | |||
| quinoline | aminoquinolines | the drug primaquine | |||
| purine | aminopurines | the nucleobase guanine | |||
| acridine | aminoacridines | fluorescent dyes | |||
Aromatic amines are widely used as precursor to pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and dyes.