Aryl chlorides are among the most versatile synthetic precursors, and yet inexpensive and benign chlorination techniques to produce them are underdeveloped. We propose a process to generate aryl chlorides by chloro-group transfer from chlorophenol pollutants to arenes during their mineralization, catalyzed by Cu(NO_3)_2/NaNO_3 under aerobic conditions. A wide range of arene substrates have been chlorinated using this process. Mechanistic studies show that the Cu catalyst acts in cooperation with NO_X species generated from the decomposition of NaNO_3 to regulate the formation of chlorine radicals that mediate the chlorination of arenes together with the mineralization of chlorophenol. The selective formation of aryl chlorides with the concomitant degradation of toxic chlorophenol pollutants represents a new approach in environmental pollutant detoxication. A reduction in the use of traditional chlorination reagents provides another (indirect) benefit of this procedure.
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