Bicine (C6H13NO4): structure, properties and hazards

Names and identifiers

IUPAC name: 2-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]acetic acid
Synonyms: N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine, buffer, N,N-Bis(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine
+ 37 more
Diethylolglycine, Diethanol glycine, Dihydroxyethylglycine, Bicene, Glycine, N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-, 2-(bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino)acetic acid, N,N-Dihydroxyethyl glycine, N,N-Dihydroxyethylglycine, DHEG, 2-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]acetic acid, di(hydroxyethyl)glycine, 1J484QFI1O, NSC-7342, NSC-7512, CHEBI:40957, RefChem:568038, CHEBI:39065, 205-755-1, N,N-Di(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine, Bis(2-Hydroxyethyl)glycine, Fe-3-Specific, N,N-(2-Hydroxyethyl)glycine, MFCD00004295, N,N-Bis(2-hydroxyethyl)aminoacetic acid, N,N-(2-Dihydroxyethyl)glycine, N,N-Bis(beta-hydroxyethyl)glycine, NSC 7342, GLYCINE, N,N-DIHYDROXYETHYL-, N,N-Bis(hydroxyethyl)glycine, N,N-bis [2-hydroxyethyl]glycine, N,N-Dihydroxyethyl, bicine buffer, N,N-Bis(.beta.-hydroxyethyl)glycine, Diethanolglycine, Glycine,N-dihydroxyethyl-, WLN: QV1N2Q2Q, Glycine,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)-
Molecular formula: C₆H₁₃NO₄
Empirical formula: C₆H₁₃NO₄
Molecular weight: 163.17 g/mol
Exact mass: 163.08446
CAS number: 150-25-4
PubChem CID: 8761
Canonical SMILES: C(CO)N(CCO)CC(=O)O
Isomeric SMILES: C(CO)N(CCO)CC(=O)O
InChI: InChI=1S/C6H13NO4/c8-3-1-7(2-4-9)5-6(10)11/h8-9H,1-5H2,(H,10,11)
InChIKey: FSVCELGFZIQNCK-UHFFFAOYSA-N
Molfile

Names, InChI and the identifiers from PubChem, retrieved 2026-10-14.

Calculated

Heavy atoms: 11
Rings: 0
Aromatic rings: 0
Fraction sp³ carbons (Fsp3): 0.83
H-bond donors: 3
H-bond acceptors: 4 computed here · PubChem 5
Rotatable bonds: 6
TPSA (Å²): 81
Formal charge: 0
XLogP3: -3.8 PubChem
Complexity: 111 PubChem
Stereocenters: None
Double-bond geometry: None specified
Point group: C1 of one 3D conformer with its hydrogens, by Athanor’s engine (as in the app)

Elemental analysis

C44.17%
H8.03%
N8.58%
O39.22%

Isotope pattern

Each peak is a nominal mass with its abundance-weighted exact mass, as a percentage of the tallest, from IUPAC natural isotope abundances.

Computed from the structure with RDKit 2026.09 when this page was built, beside PubChem's own computed values from its record; where the two differ, both are shown.

Predicted

log P: -1.64 Crippen (Wildman and Crippen 1999)
log S (water solubility): 0.58 ESOL (Delaney 2004), log mol/L
Synthetic accessibility: 2.26 SA score, 1 easy to 10 hard (Ertl and Schuffenhauer 2009)

Drug-likeness: Lipinski’s rule of five

Molecular weight ≤ 500: 163.17
log P ≤ 5 (Crippen): -1.64
H-bond donors ≤ 5: 3
H-bond acceptors ≤ 10: 4

Passes all four rules.

¹³C NMR shifts, predicted

Predictions, not measurements; each names its method. A measured log P, where a source reports one, is under Physical properties.

Safety

This chemical does not meet GHS hazard criteria for 97.6% (124 of 127) of all reports.[1]

Always read the supplier’s safety data sheet before working with it.

Spectra

Experimental spectra held by these sources; each link opens the source's own record.

Literature

Reading PubChem, OpenAlex and GSRS…

Bioactivity

Reading ChEMBL…

References

[1]European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) · ECHA legal notice: reuse with acknowledgement · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
[2]SpectraBase · Linked only · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
[3]Human Metabolome Database (HMDB) · Linked only · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
[4]MassBank Europe · Linked only · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
[5]MassBank of North America (MoNA) · CC BY 4.0 · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
[6]NIST Mass Spectrometry Data Center · Linked only · via PubChem · retrieved 2026-10-14
·Calculated values: computed by Athanor with RDKit 2026.09 from the structure.
·Literature on PubChem

Data last updated 2026-10-14.

Similar structures

Tanimoto similarity on Morgan fingerprints (radius 2) with RDKit 2026.09, at least 45%.