Charging silica with bromine
I tried to give the bromine as much respect as possible and had two ways of dealing with an accidental spill. I had a 500ml beaker filled with ammonia to neutralize as much of the bromine vapor as possible and I also had a 16 ounce container full of calcium hydroxide ready for any spills inside and outside the inside the fume hood. The operation was all done inside a stainless steel fume hood and the charging was done inside a gallon glass jar with a lid. Since bromine vapor is heavier than air minimal amounts of vapor were lost. First, about 5mls was poured into a small erlenmeyer flask and then transfered into a very shallow pyrex dish to allow the vapor charge the silica gel with the bromine vapor.
The fully charged silica resembles salmon eggs
About 1/4 cup is was mixed with about 500grams of silica to make a working strength silica inside the fuming box. As you can see in the picture the working strength silica is very yellow/orange in color
