Abstract The reactions of alkyl chlorides with bisanils (obtained from o-, m-, and p- phenylenediamines) under high pressure (10 kbar) were studied. Depending on the structure of the starting diamines and the solvent nature, hydrolysis of the reaction mixtures gave pure N-monoalkyl-or N, N"-dialkylphenylenediamines in high yields. The effect of the phase transition of the solvent on the direction of alkylation is discussed.