A rapid method of N-alkylation of amines

N-Monomethylation of primary aliphatic and aromatic amines can be effected rapidly, and in high yield, by treatment of the N-trifluoroacetyl derivatives with methyl iodide under basic conditions; by slight modification of the reaction conditions, N-dimethylation can be achieved. The method was suitable for N-ethylation but for N-propylation special conditions were necessary to obtain satisfactory yields.