Method for producing chloroformates

Various chloroformates are produced from aliphatic, substituted aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic and arylaliphatic alcohols having up to 20 carbon atoms and of phosgene in a continuous, concurrent flow process, with the alcohol starting material being atomized into the reactor, whereby the reaction takes place largely in the fog phase. The vapor pressure of the phosgene can be utilized for the creation of the fog phase and the termination of the atomized state can be used for efficiently separating the chloroformate end product from the hydrogen chloride by product. The process can be carried out in a reactor comprising a reaction zone, a charged zone and a zone for the recovery of the end product.