Patent ID: 7495130

Claim:
A process for preparing 3-, 4- or 5-fold-C 1 -C 20 -alkyl- and/or mono- or poly -halogen-substituted benzoyl chlorides (Ia), by, in a first stage, reacting a 3-, 4- or 5-fold-C 1 -C 20 -alkyl- and/or mono- or poly -halogen-substituted benzene (IIa) with CCl 4 in the presence of AlCl 3 and subsequent hydrolysis of the formed AlCl 3 complex to give the corresponding 3-, 4- or 5-fold-C 1 -C 20 -alkyl- and/or mono- or poly-halogen-substituted trichloromethylated aromatic (IIIa) and, in a second stage, the trichloromethylated benzene (IIIa) is hydrolyzed with water in the presence of a catalyst to obtain the benzoyl chloride (Ia), wherein in the second stage the aqueous organic phase from the hydrolysis of the AlCl 3 complex is used to hydrolyze the trichloromethylated benzene (IIIa), and water-free CCl 4 is distilled off after the second stage hydrolysis.