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William L. Grosshandler, Richard G. Gann, William M. Pitts
Abstract
The Montreal Protocol of 1987 identified halon 1301 (CF3Br) as one of a number of halogenated chemicals that were sufficiently deleterious to stratospheric ozone that their continued production and use required limitation. An amendment to the Protocol caused commercial halon production to cease at the beginning of 1994. The focus of concern is that the halon molecule is sufficiently stable in the lower atmosphere that it will eventually be transported to the stratosphere unaltered. There the carbon-bromine bond is vulnerable to photodissociation by solar ultraviolet radiation. The liberated bromine atom then enters into a catalytic cycle which has the net effect of consuming the shielding ozone.
Grosshandler, W.
, Gann, R.
and Pitts, W.
(1994),
Introduction (NIST SP 861), Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.861
(Accessed October 13, 2025)