Amine alpha cleavage

Amines Hardly detectable in case of acyclic aliphatic amines high intensity for aromatic and cyclic amines Beta cleavage yielding >C=Nv base peak for all 1° amines at m/e = 30 (CH2=N+H j moderate M-1 peak for aromatic amines loss of 27 (HCN) in aromatic amines fragmentation at alpha carbons in cyclic amines... 

Much like alcohols, amines are also observed to undergo alpha cleavage to generate a resonance-... 

Amines Bearing alpha-CH Bonds. Perhaps the most widely studied family of photogenerated radical cations which suffer C-H bond cleavage within the radical ion pair are the amines. Before addressing the question of deprotonation, we briefly digress to consider the impressive photoactivity of amines as electron transfer sensitizers. 

Thus the halogens preferentially cause the loss of the radical X through a cleavage of the adjacent bond, whereas the amines preferentially lose a radical through a cleavage of the alpha bond. 

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