• To contain the spread of the Covid-19 infections, private societies have been opting for fumigation with 1% solution of sodium hypochlorite at open places including passages and staircases, which experts say can be more dangerous than beneficial.
• Chlorine bleach, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), is a very useful and inexpensive disinfectant. A disinfectant kills germs that can make people sick.
• Sodium hypochlorite is just one of the common chlorine disinfectants; chlorine gas (Cl2) and solid calcium hypochlorite [Ca(OCl)2] are two others.
  
  

The Chemistry of Chlorination:

• How does sodium hypochlorite defeat germs? The answer is in this chemical reaction:
  
  

• HOCl, hypochlorous acid, formed when sodium hypochlorite is added to water, penetrates the normally resistant surfaces of microorganisms like Salmonella typhi, destroying them.
• Whether the acid remains in the form of HOCl or as the ions H+ and OCl- depends on the acidity, or pH of the solution. (Ions were defined in October's Chlorine Compoundof the Month article.)