Ammonolysis of a mesylate with anhydrous supercritical ammonia leads to the
corresponding amine in high yield (96%) and represents an interesting alte
rnative to the normally practiced azide substitution/hydrogenation sequence
to introduce an amino function. A quasi-reaction mechanism is proposed, to
gether with the kinetics which are needed for the reactor analysis and desi
gn. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.