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Ammonolysis
When an alkyl or benzyl hallide allowed to react with an ethanolic solution of ammonia, it undergoes nucleophilic substitution reaction in which the halogen atom is replaced by amino (-NH2 group) The process of cleavage of the C-X bond by ammonia is called Ammonolysis.
When this substituted ammonium salt is treated with a strong base such as sodium hydroxide, amine is formed.
Though primary amine is produced as the major product, this process produces a mixture of primary, secondary and tertiary amines and also quaternary ammonium salts as shown below:
This method cannot be used for the preparation of arylamines (aniline) since aryl halides are much less reactive than alkyl halides towards nucleophilic substitution reaction.
Note: Nucleophilic substitution reaction is the reaction of an electron pair donor (Nu, the nucleophile) with the electron pair acceptor (the electrophile) For example:
