Chlorine devastating because the existing gas masks were difficult to deploy and had not been broadly distributed. Chlorine is the second halogen, being a nonmetal in group 17 of the periodic table. Its properties are thus similar to fluorine, bromine, and iodine, and are largely intermediate between those of the first two. Chlorine has the electron configuration [Ne]3s3p, with the seven electrons in the third and outermost shell acting as its valence electrons. Like all halogens, it is thus one electron short of a full octet, and is hence a strong oxidising agent, reacting with many elements in order to complete
Chlorine pentafluoride with water to produce chloryl fluoride and hydrogen fluoride: It is also a strong fluorinating agent. At room temperature it reacts readily with all elements (including otherwise "inert" elements like platinum and gold) except noble gases, nitrogen, oxygen and fluorine. Chlorine pentafluoride Chlorine pentafluoride is an interhalogen compound with formula ClF. This colourless gas is a strong oxidant that was once a candidate oxidizer for rockets. The molecule adopts a square pyramidal structure with C symmetry, as confirmed by its high-resolution F NMR spectrum. Some of the earliest research on the preparation was classified. It was first prepared by fluorination