 Benzylamine reacts with acetyl chloride to form "N"-benzylacetamide, an exemplar of the Schotten–Baumann reaction first described in the 1880s.The reaction takes place in a two-phase solvent system (here water and diethyl ether) so that the hydrogen chloride by-product is sequestered in the aqueous phase (and sometimes neutralised with a dissolved base) and thus prevented from protonating the amine and impeding the progress of the reaction.These conditions are often called Schotten-Baumann reaction conditions and are applicable more generally.