Kinetics of the successive chlorination of 1,2-dichloroethane in the liquid phase

Abstract

Liquid 1,2-dichloroethane has been chlorinated by dissolved chlorine to a succession of chloroethanes up to the ultimate hexachloroethane. The results of both batch and continuous stirred tank reactor systems have been analysed by computer techniques to give a set of relative rate constants from which one can predict the product composition for a given chlorine uptake, the aim in this work being to optimize the production of tetrachloroethanes. An unusual feature of the kinetics is that 1,1,1,2- and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethanes provide alternative pathways between 1,1,2-trichloroethane and pentachloroethane.