Forster–Decker method

The Forster–Decker method is a series of chemical reactions that have the effect of mono-alkylating a primary amine (1), forming a secondary amine (6).

[1][2] The process occurs by way of transient formation of an imine (3) that undergoes the actual alkylation reaction.

Because the actual alkylation occurs on the imine, over-alkylation is not possible.

Therefore, this method does not suffer from side-reactions such as formation of tertiary amines as a simple SN2-type process can.

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