Patent ID: 6956142

Claim:
A process for eco-friendly synthesis of bromobenzene which comprises the steps of: (i) dissolving about 200 to 400 grams of a brominating reagent containing about 35 to 45% wt/wt of active bromine per liter of water to obtain an aqueous solution; (ii) adding about 2 to 10 mole equivalents of benzene per atom of bromine to the aqueous solution of step (i); (iii) adding a surfactant to the mixture of step (ii) under constant stirring; (iv) refluxing the reaction mixture of step (iii) at temperature in the range of about 50 to 80° C.; (v) adding a mineral acid in the concentration range of about 3 to 4 equivalents per atom of bromine to the refluxed reaction mixture of step (iv); (vi) stirring the mixture of step (v) for a time period in the range of about 20 to 48 hours at elevated temperatures; (vii) cooling the mixture of step (vi) and separating the same into an organic layer and an aqueous layer; (viii) extracting the aqueous layer of step (vii) with an organic solvent; (ix) combining the extracts of the organic layers and washing the layers successively with water and brine; (x) drying the organic layer of step (ix) over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and (xi) stripping off the organic solvent to obtain crude product and distilling the crude product to obtain clear and colorless bromobenzene.