These two compounds differ in the position of the amino group.

Since the central carbon atom in 1-aminoethanol has four different substituents, the compound has two stereoisomers.

Unlike 2-aminoethanol, which is of considerable importance in commerce, 1-aminoethanol is not encountered as a pure material and is mainly of theoretical interest.

[1] 1-Aminoethanol is suggested as intermediate in Strecker reaction of alanine synthesis.

[2] 1-Aminoethanol was first prepared in 1833 by the German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner; its empirical formula was first determined by the German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1835.