Process for the sulfochlorination of hydrocarbons

A process for producing a sulfo-chlorinated hydrocarbon, which process comprises a) heating a reaction mixture that comprises a hydrocarbon, a chlorinating agent selected from chlorine and sulfuryl chloride, liquid sulfur dioxide and a metal complex catalyst, the catalyst being represented as LnM where L is at least one of an amine, phosphine, chloride or oxide, n is an integer within a range of from 1 to 6, and M is at least one metal selected from a group consisting of copper (Cu), ruthenium (Ru), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), lanthanum (La), nickel (Ni), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), rhenium (Re), molybdenum (Mo) and manganese (Mn) to a reaction temperature, and b) maintaining the reaction mixture at the reaction temperature for a period of time sufficient to convert a portion of the hydrocarbon to a sulfo-chlorinated hydrocarbon.