[Darkroom] Hello and looking for liquid bromine

[Christian Rice]

Hi there.  I'm working with the mercury daguerreotype process and I'm in need of some Br2, the purer, the better, >99.x%.  Water sanitizing stuff (pool/spa tablets and powders) won't do.

As I doubt anyone's got some lying about (that would be awesome, though), I thought I might find out what has worked for folks in general, when looking to acquire pure chemistry.  Does Noisebridge, as an educational non-profit, have any particular advantage in sourcing materials?  I'm not asking for free stuff, I'm totally willing to do whatever's legal or ethical to acquire it, including paying, of course.  Maybe what is available is simply advice, or a discussion...and that's ok, too.

Bromine in the daguerreotype process increases the light sensitivity of a photographic plate by a factor of 60, dropping exposure times into the realm of "pretty ok".  Bromine is really hard to get, though, as it's super toxic and, like most elemental chemistry, a useful building block for all sorts of potentially nefarious stuff I don't care to pursue.

Any leads in this direction?  Any daguerrians on this mailing list?

--christian