Question

Primary, secondary or tertiary amine. Which one is more basic ?

Answer 1

The strength of a base is determined by its ability to donate the lone pair of electrons. Primary amines possess one alkyl group, secondary amines possess two alkyl groups and tertiary amines possess three alkyl groups attached to nitrogen. As the alkyl group is an electron donating group, therefore more are the number of electron donating groups, more readily is the electron pair on nitrogen available for donation to an electron deficient species. Thus as the tertiary amines have the maximum number electron donating groups, therefore the electron pair on nitrogen is most readily available for donation in case of tertiary amines making them most basic out of the three.