Chlorophenol

A chlorophenol is any organochloride of phenol that contains one or more covalently bonded chlorine atoms. There are 5 basic types of chlorophenols and 19 different chlorophenols. Chlorophenols are produced by electrophilic halogenation of phenol with chlorine. Most chlorophenols have a number of different isomers. Monochlorophenols have three isomers because there is only one chlorine atom that can occupy one of three ring positions on the phenol molecule; 2-chlorophenol, for example, is the isomer that has a chlorine atom in the ortho position. Pentachlorophenol, by contrast, has only one isomer because all five available ring positions on the phenol are fully chlorinated.