The usual methods of preparing chlorhydrines are in part inconvenient, in part unsatisfactory in yield. A. Ladenburg therefore proposes the following process, using ethylen-chlorhydrine as an example:

Glycol is heated in a distillery apparatus to 148° C., and a slow current of dry hydrochloric acid passed through it. The water formed and the glycol-chlorhydrine distill over and are collected in tubulated receivers. The temperature of the bath is gradually raised to 160° C., when all the glycol is completely decomposed, except a trifling residue. The distillate is mixed with two or three volumes of ether, and then freed from any hydrochloric acid present with potassium carbonate. The ethereal solution is drawn off, and completely dried over freshly fused potassium carbonate.—Berl. Ber.