What compounds are produced when chlorine reacts with ammonia?

When chlorine reacts with ammonia, the primary compounds produced are chloramines. Chloramines are a group of chemical compounds that consist of chlorine and ammonia, and they can be formed when chlorine is added to aqueous ammonia. The formation of chloramines occurs through a series of chemical reactions where chlorine oxidizes ammonia, resulting in the creation of different types of chloramines, which include monochloramine (NH2Cl), dichloramine (NHCl2), and trichloramine (NCl3), depending on the ratio of chlorine to ammonia.

Chloramines are often preferred in water treatment processes because they are more stable than free chlorine and result in lower disinfection by-products. They also provide a residual disinfectant effect in the distribution system, which helps maintain water quality.

In contrast, the other options represent different chemical entities not directly produced by the reaction between chlorine and ammonia. Chlormines, while perhaps a misunderstanding of the term, is not recognized as a standard term in chemistry. Chlorides refer to a broader class of compounds resulting from the deprotonation of hydrochloric acid and do not specifically relate to the chlorine-ammonia reaction. Hypochlorites are another set of compounds that can be formed during chlorination processes but do