chlorination help needed plz

[Ice-cream]

Can anyone help me with this question?

 

Which is the active chlorinating species in aromatic chlorination reactions using chlorine in the presence of aluminium chloride?

 

AlCl4+

Cl-

AlCl4-

Cl+

HCl

[Yggdrasil]

Halogenation of aromatic rings proceeds through electrophilic aromatic substitution. This means that an electrophile will react with the nucleophilic pi bonds in the aromatic ring. Based on this info, can you guess which one it is now?

[Ice-cream]

Does that mean its Cl+...coz electrophiles want e- so they would be positively charged?...i dont think its AlCl4+...is that right?

[Yggdrasil]

Yup. Although an AlCl₄ compound does form as an intermediate in the chlorination, it's AlCl₄^- (plus the AlCl₄^- doesn't directly chlorinate the aromatic ring).