Interaction of Gallium Bromide with Hydrogen Bromide and Methyl Bromide in Nitrobenzene and in 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene

The solubilities of hydrogen bromide and methyl bromide in nitrobenzene and in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene have been measured in the presence and absence of gallium bromide. When gallium bromide does not exist in the system, the solubilities of HBr and MeBr in nitrobenzene are greater than in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, indicating the greater basicity of nitrobenzene than 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. When there exists gallium bromide in the system, the addition compounds, GaBr3·HBr and GaBr3·CH3Br, have been found to exist in solution. The addition compound of GaBr3·HBr is stable in nitrobenzene but unstable in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene. On the other hand the addition compound of is unstable in both solvents. All of these unstable addition compounds dissociate into components to large extents according to one of the following equilibria or both: $.$ where R denotes either hydrogen atom or methyl group.