Dear Georges,

about three years ago I ordered 1 kg of BrF5 through a supplier in Europe
and it came from Wuhan too. The BrF5 was delivered in a very simple steel
bottle, totally corroded at the top where the valve seals against the
bottle. The seal between the bottle and the valve was made simply via a
piece of Teflon cut out of a Teflon sheet - terrible! Of course it had
leaked and even though I still tried to recover some reagent in a line
within a fume hood, I had no success the material was more air and Br2 gas
than anything... It was also unsafe to transport the bottle in any way. So
beware...!

ClF3 is GREAT to use also for laser lines but it does produce more free F2
during the reaction than BrF5, so you may need an additional F2-getter in
the line. For conventional silicate lines, unlike BrF5, the amount of ClF3
used may need to be adjusted relative to the size of sample analyzed, but
that depends on the design (wall thickness of Ni bombs, T of reaction
etc...). But ClF3 leaves the insides of the lines cleaner, transfers nicely
etc.

Alternatively change to F2 (Asprey-cell approach). I am currently happy
with that approach but relative to BrF5 it needs a re-structuring of the lines.

Good luck, regards,

Torsten.


>Dear List members,
>
>I have run out of BrF5...
>
>I have had contacts with several people regarding
>current supply of BrF5. There seems to be only
>one supplier of BrF5 worldwide, Wuhan in China.
>
>I have had mixed reports from fairly good to
>fairly bad regarding this supplier. Some
>materials received in France was of good quality,
>whereas some sent to Canada contained apparently
>less than was sold..
>
>At issue also was the security of the gas bottle,
>with leaky or breaking valves.
>
>Does anyone has purchased BrF5 recently from
>Wuhan and if so how was it? Any other reliable
>supplier known?
>
>Another solution is to switch to ClF3. There is a
>North America supplier of ClF3, Advanced Research
>Chemicals (www.fluoridearc.com) that gave a quote
>at 1210$/kg.
>
>Does anyone purchased ClF3 recently from ARC, or
>is there other reliable suppliers?
>
>Finally, should I expect extraction problems using ClF3, compared to BrF5?
>
>Thank you all for your help!
>--
>Georges Beaudoin, Géo., Ph.D.
>Professeur titulaire
>Directeur du programme de géologie
>Département de géologie et de génie géologique
>Université Laval
>Québec, Qc
>Canada G1K 7P4
>tel. 418-656-3141
>fax. 418-656-7339
>
>Visitez ma page WEB
>http://www.ggl.ulaval.ca/personnel/beaudoin/GeorgesBeaudoin.html

--------------------------------------------------------
Prof. Torsten W. Vennemann
Institut de Minéralogie et Géochimie
Université de Lausanne
BFSH-2
CH-1015 Lausanne
Suisse
Tel: +41 (0)21 692 4464 (office)
       +41 (0)21 692 4453 (laboratory)
Fax: +41 (0)21 692 4305

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