Quaternary ammonium salts

Quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively charged polyatomic ions of the structure NR+
4, R being an alkyl group or an aryl group. Unlike the ammonium ion (NH+
4) and the primary, secondary, or tertiary ammonium cations, the quaternary ammonium cations are permanently charged, independent of the pH of their solution. Quaternary ammonium salts or quaternary ammonium compounds (called quaternary amines in oilfield parlance) are salts of quaternary ammonium cations.

Quaternary ammonium compounds are prepared by the alkylation of tertiary amines (which may be obtained by the Eschweiler–Clarke reaction) with a halocarbon. In older literature this is often called a Menshutkin reaction, however modern chemists usually refer to it simply as quaternization. The reaction can be used to produce a compound with unequal alkyl chain lengths; for example when making cationic surfactants one of the alkyl groups on the amine is typically longer than the others. A typical synthesis is for benzalkonium chloride from a long-chain alkyldimethylamine and benzyl chloride:

Quaternary ammonium cations are unreactive toward even strong electrophiles, oxidants, and acids. They also are stable toward most nucleophiles. The latter is indicated by the stability of the hydroxide salts such as tetramethylammonium hydroxide and tetrabutylammonium hydroxide. Because of their resilience, many unusual anions have been isolated as the quaternary ammonium salts. Examples include tetramethylammonium pentafluoroxenate, containing the highly reactive pentafluoroxenate (XeF−
5) ion. Permanganate can be solubilized in organic solvents, when deployed as its NBu+
4 salt.

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