Bromine??!
Well of course, that makes sense!
5 Br(-) + BrO3(-) + a couple of H(+) -----> 3 Br2 + 3 H2O !!
Somehow bromate oxidises something and gets reduced to bromide. This bromide reacts with the bromate synproportionating into Br2, which will do the the oxidising business from now on. In every catalytic cycle more Br2 is produced, that's why they use so much Na2SO3 in the end! I was wondering why that was necessary. Makes sense now!
Well, if that's the mechanism then it will be possible to make this procedure a catalytic one, and to run with NaBr/H2O2 instead! Or NaBr/oxone! Or NaBr/persulfate!
Hoooray!
Damn damn damn! I already see the headlines of the newspapers:
"Banned date rape drug use on the rise again ; hits streets with a vengeance. How to protect YOUR CHILD! Read more on page 3..."