Amine Structure

Nitrogen has 5 valence electrons and so is trivalent with a lone pair. As per VSEPR theory, nitrogen present in amines is sp³ hybridized and due to the presence of lone a pair, it is pyramidal instead of tetrahedral shape which is a general structure for most sp³ hybridized molecules. Each of the three sp3 hybridized orbitals of nitrogen overlap with orbitals of hydrogen or carbon depending upon the configuration of amines. Due to the presence of a lone pair, the C-N-H angle in amines is less than 109 degrees which is a characteristic angle of tetrahedral geometry. The angle of amines is near about 107 degrees.