at 7 8 mole unconverted benzoyl chloride therefore both the yield of the 3 chloro product about 80 and the ratio of 3 chloro to 2 5 dichloro are maximized after the chlorination the desired 3 chlorobenzoyl chloride is recovered from the reaction product mixture preferably products are recovered in two distillation steps the first is a simple distillation at a low temperature and at a low pressure during simple distillation the liquid products are separated from the catalyst rapidly so that unwanted condensation reactions are minimized the second distillation is a fractional distillation of the distillate to provide the 3 chloro and 2 5 dichloro products isolated from each other the preferred embodiment of the invention will be illustrated in the following example charged into a 1 l 4 necked flask equipped with a condenser thermometer agitator gas inlet and outlet adapters cooling bath bubblers and traps are chlorine 510 5 g 7 20 mole is bubbled through the reaction medium at 25 u00b0 c u00b1 1 u00b0 for 35 hours to achieve a 93 conversion of benzoyl chloride to chlorinated products see table below the reaction product mixture then is subjected to simple distillation through a short path 6 34.