The reaction of phenylamine with acids

Amines are bases because the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom can accept a  hydrogen ion - in other words, for exactly the same reason that ammonia is a base. With phenylamine, the only difference is that it is a much weaker base than ammonia or an  amine like ethylamine - for reasons that we will explore later. The reaction of phenylamine with acids Phenylamine reacts with acids like hydrochloric acid in exactly the same way as any other  amine. Despite the fact that the phenylamine is only a very weak base, with a strong acid  like hydrochloric acid the reaction is completely straightforward. Phenylamine is only very slightly soluble in water, but dissolves freely in dilute hydrochloric  acid. A solution of a salt is formed - phenylammonium chloride. If you just want to show the formation of the salt, you could write: . . . or if you want to emphasise the fact that the phenylamine is acting as a base, you could  most simply use:
Getting the phenylamine back from its salt To get the phenylamine back from the phenylammonium ion present in the salt, all you have  to do is to take the hydrogen ion away again. You can do that by adding any stronger base. Normally, you would choose sodium hydroxide solution. The phenylamine is formed first as an off-white emulsion - tiny droplets of phenylamine   scattered throughout the water. This then settles out to give an oily bottom layer of  phenylamine under the aqueous layer.