Chlorine and sodium chloride cannot react with each other. Sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt, is composed of positively charged sodium ions and negatively charged chloride ions held together by ionic bonds. Chlorine, on the other hand, is a diatomic molecule consisting of two chlorine atoms covalently bonded together. Because the sodium ions in sodium chloride are already bonded to chloride ions, chlorine gas cannot further react with sodium chloride to form new compounds.