Acid-Catalyzed Amine-Borane Reduction of Nitrite.

The rate of reduction of nitrite by trimethylamine-borane was followed by observing the decrease in nitrite absorbance under pseudo-first-order conditions. The reaction is acid-catalyzed and exhibits a first-order dependence on both amine-borane and total nitrite concentration. The molar equivalence of NaNO(2) to (CH(3))(3)NBH(3) = 2:1.