Selection of Light Source and Reactor in Photochlorination Reaction

Chlorination reactions can be roughly divided into photochlorination, thermal chlorination and catalytic chlorination. Photochlorination belongs to photochemistry. Compared with thermochemistry, photochemistry has the following advantages:

1. Light can be regarded as a very special environmentally friendly reagent;

2. In the process of chemical synthesis, photochemical methods are more selective and specific than thermochemical methods;

3. In the production process, the photochemical reaction is safer, because the photochemical reaction is generally carried out at room temperature or below;

4. When organic compounds undergo photochemical reactions, no protective groups are required;

5. In many conventional syntheses, interspersed photochemical reactions often simplify and shorten the synthesis process. 

There are two key equipments for photochemical synthesis—light source and Photochemical Reactor.

The light sources used in photochemical synthesis are sunlight and various electric light sources, mainly electric light sources.

Electric light sources can be mainly divided into two categories according to their light-emitting principles: thermal radiation light sources and gas discharge light sources.