Question

So I was wondering, if we replaced two of the hydrogens in methane with amine groups, would it be a stable compound? What about for R groups of varying size?

Similarly, if I tried to make a compound with a terminal acetal except I now replace the hydrogen at the terminal carbon with another -OR group, would that be stable? Or is it too much steric hindrance?

Answer 1

Replacing two hydrogens in methane with amine groups creates a stable compound like methylamine or ethylamine. Larger R groups can affect solubility but not stability. Steric hindrance in terminal acetal compounds affects stability when large -OR groups are involved.

Step-by-step explanation:

When considering the modification of methane by replacing two of its hydrogen atoms with amine groups, the resulting compound would still be stable.

This is because amines, like methylamine and ethylamine, are capable of forming stable molecules even when hydrocarbon chains are present.

In the case of larger R groups, there might be an issue with solubility in water as larger amines tend to be less soluble.

However, steric hindrance would not generally destabilize the molecule; it would more so affect its reactivity and physical properties.

In the case of forming a compound with a terminal acetal and replacing a terminal hydrogen with another -OR group, the stability can be affected by steric hindrance depending on the size of the R groups involved.

If the R groups are small, such as methyl or ethyl, then the compound is likely to be stable.

However, as the size of the R groups increases, steric hindrance becomes a much more significant concern and could destabilize the molecule or make its formation synthetically challenging.