Carbon tetrachloride, a low value and banned compound, was utilized to chlorinate organic acids in the presence of catalytic amount of FeCl3. A wide range of organic acids were smoothly transferred to corresponding acyl chlorides, while the carbon tetrachloride itself was consumed. Further more, some substituted benzoic acids which are not easy to be chlorinated by normal chlorination reagents are efficiently transferred to acyl chlorides by this chlorination method. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.