BROMINE WATER TEST

OBJECTIVE

The presence of unsaturation in a fatty acid or a triacylglycerol can be detected by reaction with
bromine.

HISTORY

The only nonmetallic element that is a liquid at normal room temperatures, bromine was produced by
Carl Löwig, a young chemistry student, the summer before starting his freshman year at Heidelberg.
When he showed his professor, Leopold Gmelin, the red, smelly liquid he had produced, Gmelin realized
that this was an unknown substance and encouraged Löwig to produce more of it so they could study it
in detail. Unfortunately, winter exams and the holidays delayed Löwig's work long enough for another
chemist, Antoine-Jérôme Balard, to publish a paper in 1826 describing the new element. Balard was
credited with the discovery and named it after the greek word for stench, bromos. Today, bromine is
primarily obtained by treating brines from wells in Michigan and Arkansas with chlorine.

STEPS

ROLES OF REAGENT

PRINCIPLE OF THE TEST

CHEMICAL FORMULA