In the laboratory, methylamine hydrochloride is readily prepared by various other methods. One method involves treating formaldehyde with ammonium chloride.

[NH4]Cl + CH2O → [CH2=NH2]Cl + H2O

[CH2=NH2]Cl + CH2O + H2O → [CH3NH3]Cl + HCOOH

The colorless hydrochloride can be converted to the amine by adding a strong base such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH):

[CH3NH3]Cl + NaOH → CH3NH2 + NaCl + H2O

Another method requires the reduction of nitromethane with zinc and hydrochloric acid.

Another way to produce methylamine is the spontaneous decarboxylation of glycine in water with a strong base. [citation needed]

Methylamine is a good nucleophile because it is an unhindered amine. As an amine, it is considered a weak base. Its application in organic chemistry is widespread. Some reactions involving simple reagents include: methyl isocyanate from phosgene, sodium methyl dithiocarbamate from carbon disulfide and sodium hydroxide, methyl isocyanate from chloroform and base, and methyl isocyanate from ethylene oxide Methylethanolamine. Liquid methylamine has solvent properties similar to liquid ammonia.

Representative commercially significant chemicals produced from methylamine include the drugs ephedrine and theophylline, the insecticides carbofuran, carbaryl, and webran, and the solvents N-methylformamide and N-methyl pyrrolidone. The preparation of some surfactants and photographic developers requires methylamine as a constituent.

Methylamine is the result of putrefaction and is a substrate for methanogenesis.

Furthermore, methylamine is produced during PADI4-dependent demethylation of arginine.

In the United States, methylamine is listed as a List 1 precursor chemical by the Drug Enforcement Administration [17] due to its use in the illicit production of methamphetamine.

The fictional characters Walter White and Jesse Pinkman used methylamine as part of the process of synthesizing methamphetamine in the AMC series Breaking Bad