When ammonia in an ethanol solvent reacts with a halogenoalkane a primary amine is produced by the nucleophilic substitution of the halide by an NH2 group. However, the primary amine produced is also a nucleophile and in turn reacts with the halogenoalkane to form a secondary amine.The secondary amine reacts to form a tertiary amine and the tertiary amine reacts to form a quaternary ammonium salt.The nucleophilic substitution reaction of ammonia and a halogenoalkane is not a very efficient way of preparing an amine because of the further substitutions. The ammonia in a large excess will give a better yield of the primary amine.