Butan-2-amine · 2-aminobutane · ≥99% commercial, LR and AR grades
sec-Butylamine is the chiral four-carbon primary amine, with the nitrogen on the second carbon. It is best known as a post-harvest fungicide and as the amine behind several triazine and sulfonylurea actives. Chelora Amines supplies it worldwide — to agrochemical, pharmaceutical, rubber and specialty chemical plants across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas, as well as throughout India. Packed in carboys, drums, IBC totes or bulk, shipped in UN-specification packaging with a batch-wise COA and SDS.
48.04 + 9.07 + 14.01 + 2.02 = 73.14 g/mol
sec-Butylamine, also written as butan-2-amine or 2-aminobutane, is a clear, colourless, flammable liquid that boils at about 63 °C, mixes with water in all proportions and carries the ammoniacal odour of the lower alkyl amines. CAS 13952-84-6 refers to the racemic material, which is what commercial supply normally means.
Its defining feature is the stereocentre. The carbon holding the nitrogen carries a methyl group, an ethyl group, a hydrogen and the amine, so the molecule exists as two enantiomers. Where a downstream active is itself chiral, that matters a great deal: the racemic amine gives a mixture of diastereomers, and a resolved enantiomer may be needed instead. This is normally decided long before purchasing, but it is worth confirming on the enquiry.
In use it is best known in crop protection. sec-Butylamine has a long history as a post-harvest fungicide for citrus and other stored produce, and it supplies the sec-butylamino group in triazine herbicides such as secbumeton and in several sulfonylurea and urea actives. Pharmaceutical and specialty chemical users take it for the same reason: a compact chiral primary amine that is easy to acylate.
It is manufactured by reductive amination of methyl ethyl ketone with ammonia and hydrogen over a supported metal catalyst, or by amination of sec-butanol. Both routes produce di-sec-butylamine alongside the primary amine, and traces of the ketone can survive into the product, so both are controlled in the specification.
| Chemical name | sec-Butylamine (butan-2-amine) |
| Common synonyms | 2-Aminobutane, sec-butanamine, 1-methylpropylamine, butafume |
| CAS number | 13952-84-6 (racemic) |
| EC / EINECS number | 237-732-7 |
| HS / HSN code | 2921 19 (acyclic monoamines and derivatives) |
| Molecular formula | CH₃CH₂CH(CH₃)NH₂ (C₄H₁₁N) |
| Molecular weight | 73.14 g/mol |
| Appearance | Clear, colourless, mobile liquid |
| Odour | Strong ammoniacal, fish-like |
| Melting point | About −104 °C |
| Boiling point | 62–64 °C |
| Density | About 0.724 g/cm³ at 20 °C |
| Vapour pressure | About 160–190 mbar at 20 °C |
| Flash point | About −20 °C (closed cup) |
| Auto-ignition temperature | About 375 °C |
| Flammability limits in air | Approximately 1.7 – 9.8 vol % |
| Solubility in water | Completely miscible |
| pKa of conjugate acid | About 10.6 at 25 °C |
| Chirality | One stereocentre; supplied as the racemate unless otherwise agreed |
| Refractive index | About 1.394 at 20 °C |
| UN number | UN 2733, Class 3 with subsidiary risk 8, packing group II |
Figures are typical literature values for orientation. Values for the material you order are stated on its Certificate of Analysis and Safety Data Sheet.
sec-Butylamine behaves as a moderately hindered primary amine: reactive enough for routine acylation and substitution, bulky enough to give the selectivity that many actives depend on, and chiral, which becomes the dominant consideration once the downstream molecule is itself chiral.
Displaces chloride on cyanuric chloride derivatives to install the sec-butylamino group of secbumeton and related triazine herbicides.
Ar–Cl + sBuNH₂ → Ar–NHsBuReacts with acid chlorides, anhydrides and esters to give N-sec-butyl amides used in pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis.
RCOCl + sBuNH₂ → amideGives N-sec-butyl sulfonamides and feeds sulfonylurea herbicide and drug intermediates.
RSO₂Cl + sBuNH₂ → sulfonamideAdds across isocyanates to give substituted ureas, several of which are crop-protection actives in their own right.
RNCO + sBuNH₂ → ureaNeutralises organic and mineral acids to give sec-butylammonium salts, the form used in post-harvest treatment of stored produce.
acid + sBuNH₂ → saltCondenses with aldehydes and ketones and is reduced in situ to secondary amines carrying a chiral centre next to nitrogen.
R₂C=O + sBuNH₂ → amineUsed as a resolving agent and as a chiral auxiliary, where its stereocentre separates a racemic acid into diastereomeric salts.
racemic acid + sBuNH₂ → saltsWith a conjugate acid pKa near 10.6 it holds pH steady during a reaction and is easy to remove afterwards.
pKa ≈ 10.6 at 25 °CProcess notes. Additions are exothermic and the amine boils at about 63 °C, so dose under control with reflux or cooling rather than heating a closed vessel. Where stereochemistry matters, confirm at the enquiry stage whether the racemate is acceptable, because resolving it afterwards is far more expensive than specifying it up front. Excess amine strips cleanly under vacuum.
Discuss your processsec-Butylamine is made by catalytic amination, and the route sets the impurity profile: di-sec-butylamine from over-reaction, and residual methyl ethyl ketone or sec-butanol from incomplete conversion.
Methyl ethyl ketone, or sec-butanol on the alcohol route, is mixed with a large excess of ammonia, with hydrogen fed in for the reductive route.
The mixture passes over a supported nickel, cobalt or copper catalyst at elevated temperature and pressure, producing the racemic amine.
The reactor delivers sec-butylamine with di-sec-butylamine, water, unreacted ammonia and traces of unconverted ketone or alcohol.
Ammonia is recovered and recycled, and distillation separates the primary amine from the secondary amine and heavier fractions, with off-spec cuts returned to the reactor.
Product is dried, tested for assay, isomers, ketone, water and colour, then filled under nitrogen into carboys, drums, totes or bulk containers.
Di-sec-butylamine is the principal by-product and a strongly hindered secondary amine, so it neither reacts like the product nor separates easily from some reaction mixtures. Residual methyl ethyl ketone is the other name to watch, because it condenses with the amine to give an imine that shows up as colour and can consume reagent in a downstream coupling.
The other butylamine isomers can also carry through at low levels where a plant makes more than one. Where a registration dossier or a validated process names limits, send them with the enquiry and we will match the batch rather than send the standard commercial cut.
Twelve months in sealed original packing, kept cool and out of sunlight, is the normal working figure, with a re-check of assay, water and colour before a critical batch from older stock. Carbon dioxide pickup and residual ketone are the two usual causes of a rising APHA number.
Keep drums closed between draws, blanket tanks with nitrogen where you can, and keep packs away from heat and sunlight. A retained sample of every batch is held here so a later query can be settled against the original material.
Tell us the reaction and the limits that matter and we will confirm the grade. Commercial grade covers most production use; LR and AR grades are available for laboratory, method development and analytical work.
The standard production grade for agrochemical intermediates, salt formation and general synthesis.
Tighter limits on di-sec-butylamine, ketone, water and colour for development and pilot work.
The tightest grade we offer, for analytical method work, standards and QC laboratories.
(R)- or (S)-sec-butylamine where the downstream molecule needs a single enantiomer rather than the racemate.
| Parameter | Test method | Typical specification |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Visual | Clear, colourless liquid, free from suspended matter |
| Assay (sec-butylamine) | GC | ≥ 99.0 % w/w |
| Di-sec-butylamine | GC | ≤ 0.5 % w/w |
| Other butylamine isomers | GC | ≤ 0.3 % w/w total |
| Methyl ethyl ketone | GC | ≤ 0.1 % w/w |
| Free ammonia | GC / titration | ≤ 0.2 % w/w |
| Water | Karl Fischer | ≤ 0.5 % w/w |
| Colour | APHA | ≤ 15 |
| Non-volatile matter | Gravimetric | ≤ 0.05 % w/w |
| Density at 20 °C | Densitometer | 0.721 – 0.727 g/cm³ |
| Iron (Fe) | AAS | ≤ 2 ppm |
Indicative specification for planning. The controlling document is the Certificate of Analysis issued for your batch. If your process needs tighter limits on isomers, water or colour, say so at enquiry stage and we will quote against your specification.
Four isomers share the formula C₄H₁₁N, and only one of them is chiral. That single difference decides whether a downstream active is a clean single compound or a mixture of diastereomers, so this is not a family where substitution is safe.
| Property | sec-Butylamine | n-Butylamine | Isobutylamine | tert-Butylamine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAS number | 13952-84-6 | 109-73-9 | 78-81-9 | 75-64-9 |
| Structure | NH₂ on carbon 2, chiral | Straight chain, NH₂ on carbon 1 | Branch on carbon 2, NH₂ on carbon 1 | NH₂ on a fully substituted carbon |
| Boiling point | 62–64 °C | 77–79 °C | 67–69 °C | 44–46 °C |
| pKa of conjugate acid | ≈ 10.6 | ≈ 10.8 | ≈ 10.4 | ≈ 10.7 |
| Chirality | One stereocentre, supplied racemic | None | None | None |
| Steric access at nitrogen | Moderately hindered | Unhindered | Almost unhindered | Strongly hindered |
| Typical outlets | Post-harvest fungicide, triazine and sulfonylurea herbicides, chiral intermediates | Rubber accelerators, pesticides, dyes, emulsifiers | API side chains, sulfonamides, fragrances | TBBS accelerator, MTBE chemistry, pharma |
| Transport | UN 2733, Class 3 (8), PG II | UN 1125, Class 3 (8), PG II | UN 1214, Class 3 (8), PG II | UN 1125 family, Class 3 (8) |
Order by full name and CAS number. State sec-butylamine and CAS 13952-84-6 on the enquiry and the purchase order, and say whether the racemate is acceptable. “2-aminobutane”, “butylamine” and “sBA” are all read differently by different suppliers.
See the full amine rangeCrop protection accounts for most of the volume, with pharmaceutical and chiral-intermediate work taking the tighter grades. Here is where sec-butylamine goes.
A post-harvest fungicidal treatment for citrus and stored produce in the countries that permit it, and the source of the sec-butylamino group in triazine and urea herbicides.
Supplies a compact chiral primary amine for amide, sulfonamide and amine side chains, and serves as a resolving agent for racemic acids.
Used as a chiral auxiliary and ligand precursor in asymmetric synthesis, and to prepare diastereomeric salts for resolution work.
Goes into dithiocarbamate accelerators, antioxidants and blocked-amine curatives for elastomers, adhesives and coatings.
Feeds film-forming inhibitor packages for oilfield and refinery service, and detergent and dispersant additives for fuels and lubricants.
Used in amine oxides, amphoteric surfactants and quaternary ammonium compounds where a branched hydrophobe is wanted.
Introduces the sec-butylamino group into azo and anthraquinone intermediates and into optical brighteners.
A base and acid scavenger, a derivatising reagent for chiral analysis, and a building block in method development.
If you are mapping a value chain, or looking for the product one step down from where you are, this is where sec-butylamine ends up. Several of these are chemicals we can also source for you.
| Derivative | Made by | End use |
|---|---|---|
| Secbumeton and related triazines | Substitution on cyanuric chloride derivatives | Selective herbicides |
| sec-Butylammonium salts | Neutralisation with organic or mineral acids | Post-harvest fungicidal treatments and liquid formulations |
| N-sec-Butyl sulfonylureas | Sulfonamide then urea formation | Herbicides and pharmaceutical actives |
| N-sec-Butyl amides | Acylation with acid chlorides, anhydrides or esters | Agrochemical and pharmaceutical intermediates |
| N-sec-Butyl ureas | Addition to isocyanates | Herbicides and polyurethane modifiers |
| Di-sec-butylamine | Further alkylation or direct manufacture | Hindered base, extraction and inhibitor chemistry |
| Diastereomeric salts | Salt formation with racemic acids | Resolution of chiral acids in fine chemical manufacture |
| sec-Butyl dithiocarbamates | Reaction with carbon disulfide | Rubber accelerators and flotation collectors |
| sec-Butylamino alcohols | Ring opening of epoxides | API intermediates, surfactants and coating additives |
| Quaternary ammonium compounds | Exhaustive alkylation | Biocides, antistatic agents and phase-transfer catalysts |
Looking for one of these rather than the amine itself? Ask us — several sit within our sourcing network, and we can quote the derivative and the raw material together.
Every container carries the Chelora Amines label with product name, net weight, batch number, manufacturing date, UN number and hazard pictograms.
HDPE carboys for lab qualification, pilot batches and low-consumption users.
MS and HDPE drums, the standard production pack, with tamper-evident closures.
Forklift-ready totes with bottom valves for plants drawing material every week.
Bulk loads and ISO tank containers for continuous plants and large campaigns.
Tell us the monthly draw, whether the racemate is acceptable and how you store flammables, and we will recommend the grade, pack size and delivery schedule. Export consignments are packed in UN-specification drums and totes, palletised and stretch-wrapped, and shipped FOB, CIF or CFR through Nhava Sheva and Mundra.
Plan my supplysec-Butylamine is a highly flammable, corrosive base with a flash point around −20 °C, and in several countries its use as a post-harvest treatment is separately regulated. The notes below are a summary for planning only — work to the Safety Data Sheet supplied with your consignment and to your own site risk assessment.
sec-Butylamine is a regulated dangerous good in transport, and its pesticidal uses are regulated separately in most countries. Both are routine for us, but they shape what we need from you before a first shipment moves.
| Proper shipping name | Amines, flammable, corrosive, n.o.s. (sec-butylamine) |
| UN number | UN 2733 |
| Hazard class | Class 3 flammable liquid, subsidiary risk 8 corrosive |
| Packing group | II |
| Labels | Flame and corrosion pictograms, with the technical name shown in brackets |
| Modes | Road, rail and sea (IMDG); air movement within dangerous goods quantity limits |
| Segregation | Away from acids, oxidisers, halogens, hypochlorites and foodstuffs |
| Packaging | UN-specification drums, carboys and IBC totes, palletised and strapped for export |
Where sec-butylamine is intended for a pesticidal use, national registration and labelling rules apply in addition to the transport rules, and those sit with the user or formulator. We supply business to business only, against verified company credentials, consignee details and a signed end-use declaration, plus any import permit the destination country requires.
Start account opening| Parameter | Specification | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance | Clear, colourless liquid | Complies |
| Assay (GC) | ≥ 99.0 % | Complies |
| Di-sec-butylamine | ≤ 0.5 % | Complies |
| Water (KF) | ≤ 0.5 % | Complies |
| Colour (APHA) | ≤ 15 | Complies |
sec-butylamine is checked before dispatch and each consignment leaves with the paperwork your QC, stores and accounts teams need on day one.
The numbers on a Certificate of Analysis are only useful if you know how they were produced. These are the methods behind the figures on ours, and the checks worth repeating at your own goods-inward.
Separates sec-butylamine from its isomers, homologues and residual ammonia in one run, and gives both the assay and the impurity profile that matter to your reaction.
An independent check on total amine content, useful as a quick goods-inward confirmation before a drum is released to production.
Water determination, which matters wherever the next step is moisture sensitive or the amine feeds an anhydrous reaction.
A visual platinum–cobalt comparison. A rising colour value is the earliest sign that a pack has been exposed to air or held too long.
Fast confirmation of identity and strength, and a simple way to spot a wrong pack or a contaminated drum.
Gravimetric residue and trace metal checks, which matter for catalytic steps and for any product going into a regulated formulation.
A sample from every dispatched batch is held here, so a query months later can be settled against the original material rather than an argument.
The batch number on the label ties back to the COA, the test record and the supply lot, which is what your auditor will ask to see.
Where your customer or regulator needs an independent result, we can arrange analysis at a NABL-accredited laboratory before dispatch.
Five steps for a first order of sec-butylamine. Repeat orders follow the same route on a schedule that matches your consumption.
Grade, quantity, pack size and delivery location.
We confirm the grade for your process and quote, usually within 24 hours.
The batch is tested and the COA, SDS and invoice details are prepared.
Labelled packs move by road, or in UN-spec packaging for export.
Material reaches your gate and repeat dispatches are scheduled to your usage.
sec-butylamine is a line on a price list and a headache in a warehouse. What separates suppliers is the grade flexibility, the paperwork and the answer you get when something is not routine.
sec-Butylamine sits alongside the rest of our amine range, from ethanolamines to fatty amines. Your purchase team raises one enquiry, compares one quote and manages one vendor record instead of six.
Commercial, LR and AR material is available, so you are not forced to redesign a step around the only grade your supplier happens to carry.
COA, SDS, correct HSN and HS codes, dangerous goods declarations and certificates of origin are prepared with the consignment, not chased afterwards by your logistics team.
Tell us your limits on isomers, water, ammonia or colour and we quote against them, rather than sending the standard cut and letting your QC department find out.
Once we know your monthly draw we hold and release material on a schedule, so you carry less inventory of a flammable, corrosive product than you otherwise would.
Describe the reaction rather than the product code and we will tell you which grade fits — and say so plainly when a different amine would serve you better.
Buyers who order sec-butylamine usually source these from the same list. Open any product for its specification, grades and packing, or see the full product range.
Container shipments to buyers on five continents, plus road dispatch inside India. Tell us your country and destination port and we will quote landed terms, transit time and the documentation your customs broker will ask for.
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.
Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Czechia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and the Caribbean, shipped in UN-specification packaging with full DG documentation.
| Incoterms quoted | EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF and DAP, depending on your destination and preference |
| Load ports | Nhava Sheva (JNPT) and Mundra, with Chennai and Kolkata used for eastbound routings |
| Container options | Full container loads, and consolidated LCL shipments for smaller quantities |
| Typical container fill | Around 80 drums, or roughly 18 to 20 IBC totes, in a 20 ft container |
| Packing for export | UN-specification drums and totes, palletised, strapped and stretch-wrapped, with DG labelling |
| Air freight | Possible for small quantities within dangerous goods limits; most volume moves by sea |
| Payment terms | Advance, irrevocable letter of credit or agreed credit terms for established accounts |
| Before first shipment | Company credentials, end-use declaration and any import permit the destination country requires |
Road dispatch from our Mumbai base to industrial clusters in 16 states and Delhi. Open your state for the local industries we serve and the amines they order most.
Most delays in quoting sec-butylamine come from a missing line in the enquiry, not from availability. Send these details and a firm price usually comes back the same day.
Not sure of some of it yet? Send what you have. A description of the reaction step and an approximate monthly volume is enough for us to come back with a recommended grade, a pack plan and an indicative price.
Send an enquiryPlain definitions of the words that appear on a sec-butylamine specification, label and shipping document.
Short answers to what purchase, plant and QC teams ask us most about this product. Anything else, ask us directly.
Send the grade, quantity, pack size and your delivery address or destination port. We come back with a price, the documents that go with the batch and a dispatch or shipping plan, usually within 24 hours.