Electrosynthesis of HCl? I was attempting to synthesize hydrochloric acid and it seems to have formed another form of chlorinated acid. The smell is more of chlorine and is extremely powerful. I got some on my jeans and it bleached them white but caused me no burn. In fact as an acid it seems pretty weak by comparison to the smell which is overpowering and appears to be extremely toxic. The reaction was performed in a membrane separated electrolytic cell with $\ce{NaCl}$ as the electrolyte, $\ce{PbO2}$ anode, $\ce{Cu}$ cathode, $\pu{19.5 V}$.

I'm pretty sure it's not hydrochloric acid, I've worked with $\ce{HCl}$ a lot and I'm sure thats not $\ce{HCl + H2O}$, so what kind of acid did I form?

Is it just chlorine and water. If it is just $\ce{Cl}$ shouldn't it react with water to form a compound?

MODERATOR : I do not see how a chemical synthesis question is off topic. However, I rarely receive accurate answers to my questions, do feel free to delete this question and all of my previous questions and even my profile for that matter as I find this entire network rater useless. I get much better assistance from other venues.
I do thank anyone who has provided any assistance in the past, it's appreciated.
Back to meandering around the internet for answers.
Good Bye!


Above is what I distilled from the product.
You've described the classic preparation of sodium hypochlorite, better known as "bleach".

If you electrolyze sodium chloride solution, you form hydrogen at one electrode and chlorine at the other, and sodium hydroxide in solution. But chlorine tends to dissolve in alkaline solutions to form chloride and hypochlorite ions. So you get "sodium hypochlorite" solution, which is actually a complex equilibrium between sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite, free chlorine, and (of course) water.