N-Nitrosamines are a class of compounds notorious both for the potent carcinogenicity of many of its members and for their widespread occurrence throughout the human environment, from air and water to our diets and drugs. Considerable effort has been dedicated to understanding N-nitrosamines as contaminants, and methods for their prevention, remediation, and detection are ongoing challenges. Understanding the chemistry of N-nitrosamines will be key to addressing these challenges. To facilitate such understanding, we focus in this Perspective on the structure, reactivity, and synthetic applications of N-nitrosamines with an emphasis on alkyl N-nitrosamines. The role of N-nitrosamines as water contaminants and the methods for their detection are also discussed.

中文翻译：

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N-亚硝胺的有机化学家指南：它们的结构、反应性和作为污染物的作用

N-亚硝胺是一类臭名昭著的化合物，因其许多成员的强致癌性以及它们在整个人类环境中的广泛存在，从空气和水到我们的饮食和药物。已经付出了相当大的努力来理解N-亚硝胺作为污染物，其预防、修复和检测方法是持续的挑战。了解N-亚硝胺的化学性质将是应对这些挑战的关键。为了促进这种理解，我们在这篇观点中关注 N-亚硝胺的结构、反应性和合成应用，重点是烷基N-亚硝胺。N的作用还讨论了作为水污染物的亚硝胺及其检测方法。