Bromine in daguerreotypy. Potassium bromide and sodium bromide were used as anticonvulsants and sedatives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but were gradually superseded by chloral hydrate and then by the barbiturates. In the early years of the First World War, bromine compounds such as xylyl bromide were used as poison gas. Bromine is the third halogen, being a nonmetal in group 17 of the periodic table. Its properties are thus similar to those of fluorine, chlorine, and iodine, and tend to be intermediate between those of the two neighbouring halogens, chlorine and iodine. Bromine has the electron configuration
Bromine pentafluoride Bromine pentafluoride Bromine pentafluoride, BrF, is an interhalogen compound and a fluoride of bromine. It is a strong fluorination reagent. BrF finds use in oxygen isotope analysis. Laser ablation of solid silicates in the presence of bromine pentafluoride releases O for subsequent analysis. It has also been tested as an oxidizer in liquid rocket propellants and is used as a fluorinating agent in the processing of uranium. Bromine pentafluoride was first prepared in 1931 by the direct reaction of bromine with fluorine. This reaction is suitable for the preparation of large quantities, and is carried out at temperatures over with