BRAINCAKEPreparing Primary Aliphatic Amines
Primary aliphatic amines can be made by reacting a halogenoalkane with ammonia.
Conditions: the halogenoalkane is heated with an excess of ammonia dissolved in ethanol, in a sealed tube (so the volatile ammonia cannot escape).
The reaction is a nucleophilic substitution. The lone pair on the nitrogen of ammonia attacks the δ+ carbon of the C-X bond, and the halide ion leaves. This gives an alkylammonium ion, and a second ammonia molecule removes an H+ from it to release the amine. Two moles of ammonia are used overall:
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