Interaction of Charcoal and Bromine in Aqueous Solution

The nature of the reaction between characoal and bromine in aqueous solution depends to a large extent on the nature of the charcoal Surface as influenced by its associated oxygen. When oxygen, capable of evolving carbon dioxide on high-temperature evacuation, is present, the reaction involves hydrolysis of bromine and chemisorption of an equivalent amount of oxygen. When this form of oxygen is absent, the reaction involves 'fixation' of an appreciable amount of bromine, probably at some unsaturated sites, there being little or no hydrolysis. The amount of bromine fixed is seen to be a definite quantity for a given sample of charcoal. The beat evolved during the process is quite close to the heat of addition of bromine in ethylenic double bond as reported in literature