2,6-Dichlorobenzoyl chloride acts as an important intermediate in organic synthesis, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and dyestuffs. It is employed in the substrate activity screening method for the rapid development of novel substrates and their conversion into non-peptidic inhibitors of Cys and Ser proteases. It is also used in the preparation of 1-acyliridoles and (-)-aspicilin. In addition to this, it undergoes esterification of (fluoren-9-ylmethoxy)carbonyl (Fmoc)-amino acids to 4-alkoxybenzyl alcohol polystyrene.