1-Aminoethanol

1-Aminoethanol is an organic compound with the formula CH$3$CH(NH$2$)OH. It is classified as an alkanolamine. Specifically, it is a structural isomer of 2-aminoethanol (ethanolamine). 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-Aminoethanol exists in a solution of acetaldehyde and aqueous ammonia.

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

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. The structure of 1-aminoethanol remained unproven until 1877, when the German-Italian chemist Robert Schiff showed that the structure was CH$4$CH(OH)NH$14$.