I figured since we have a few iodine threads, I'd post a source for bromine since it is also useful. Bromine is perhaps not as useful as iodine, but it finds use in several synthesis such as ethyl bromide, hydrobromic acid, acetic anhydride, and bromovanillin.

Sodium bromide, as well as the brominated cyanuric acid derivatives are sold at a lot of places similiar to walmart, and especially at the stores that specialize in swimming pool chemicals. The brominated cyanuric acid derivatives, which are often sold as floating tabs, are also chlorinated. with the tabs you often do not get as much bromine for the buck as compared to buying the sodium bromide.

Bromine can be produced by bubbling chlorine gas into a cold saturated solution of sodium bromide. A bottom layer of Br2 will form which can be separated and then dried by distilling with sulfuric acid.  If you are using the tabs, bromine can be produced by adding hydrochloric acid. This will produce chlorine, bromine, and cyanuric acid. The chlorine will float off as a gas, and the bromine should sink to the bottom, this might be more difficult to separate since the solublity of cyanuric acid is fairly poor and might precipitate into the bottom layer of the bromine. The colder the solution, the less bromine will dissolve in the water, and the higher your yields should be.

I haven't seen it in stores, but jacks yellow stuff contains 98% sodium bromide, and goes for about $13-19 for two pounds. Here is the cheapest source I've been able to find. http://www.discountpoolzone.com/chemicals/poolchemicals.html

Also I have attached a picture of the sodium bromide I find in walmart.

that is probably the easiest method, I bet it could be modified so you just mix TCCA with Sodium bromide, and slowly added conc. HCl. That would be a great way I bet since TCCA is so economical compared to hypochlorites.

The bleach must be dilute. Try cooling off the solution significantly.. so ice is forming. That should help drop more of the Br2 out.

I don't know why it didn't work.  try to bubble chlorine into a cold concentrated solution of NaBr. I have always had luck with that and it should work for you.

Try adding NaCl perhaps? I would think NaCl would kick the Br2 out of solution.

Bromine is less reactive then chlorine, but I don't know if that plays an important roll in toxicity.

Yeah, this is probably why I prefer using Cl2, don't have to mess with it being dilute - just concentrated NaBr solution, no other liquids from the acids, or to dissolve other salts.

no1uno-Yep, one step ahead. I ditched the HBr water yesterday. Twas a lost cause.

I believe 90% now it was a dilution issue.

My conclusion: bleach *can* form bromine, but it's not worth the effort.

Calcium hypochlorite powder usually contains at least(as far as I know) 10x more available chlorine than bleach. Since I was short on cash I decided to attempt the bleach route.

What other sort of halogens? that sounds very interesting since oxone is pretty easy to get.
Is this the one you were referring to? http://www.erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/oxone.aromatic.bromination.html

Very interesting, I know oxygen is more electronegative then chlorine, but it still surprises me that it works well for chlorine.

 Years ago swIm heard about the Bromine.
 Looked around & found some pool bromine tablets.

 Found the above info on how to dissolve it in water & push it out of the solution with Chlorine gas.
 SwIm couldn't be mucked around with making chlorine gas so 'e decided to add Hydrochloric acid to the Bromine.

 Ah, don't do THAT inside...

 The lot got dumped in the sink & flushed away with water.

 So it was decided to powder it up, put it in a testube, add HCL acid.
 Lotsa bubbling, stinky gas comming off.
 White Bromine powder turns yellow under the HCL layer at the top of the testtube.
 
SwIm decides to do it again, but protecting the Bromine pdr with a layer of Parrifin oil on top of it.

 Does it again, but by injecting some HCL UNDER the parrifin layer.

 UGH? It doesn't spit out the gas etc now... ah the HCL layer forms a protecting layer on top.
 (about a teaspoon in a cigar sized Testube, 3/4 full of crushed Bromine pdr)

 This time the HCL formed a layer on the Bromine, reacted with it, turning the Bromine yellow as it moved down.
 The yellow got darker & darker, untill it was orange as it moved down.
 Then darker orange untill it turned red.
 Then darker red (its almost 1 inch from the bottom of the testube now) sorta murky.
 Then even darker Red, then the Red went to a dark Blood red, but clear, no murkyness.

 & swIm decided that if 'es about to make Bromine again, use a glass turkey baster.

 By the time it gets to the bottom, the Bromines very rich & when it hits rock bottom, & rich, it drops out of the baster into whatever you want it too.

Try it yourself, swIm left the experiment sitting on the end of the kitchen sink for over a year... Its pretty smell free.

 Getting the powder the right size is important, you want the HCL to form a flat layer, too course & it slips down the side past some of the Bromine.

 Too fine & it dosn't get a chance to move, it forms a solid crust on top of the bromine under the HCL.

 If swIms got a distillation setup & pushing the Bromine into DCM.
 SwIm would just add HCL directly to powdered Bromine in the reaction flask.

 Any comments would be appreciated. This was just filling in time late one night.

DBDMH (1,3-Dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin) is increasingly available as a pool bromine source. Distilling with HCl will yield bromine, although it will also contain some BrCl contamination.