Sciencemadness Discussion Board - How do I store I2?

How do I store I2?

Edward Elric - 8-5-2005 at 18:33

how do I store this I2 after I have obtained it? also, how do i dry it properly?

Glass jar with a cork stopper?

google points to: light resistant container.. hmm useful..

Anyone know where I can get one of those from a walmart or hardware store?

Also, I don't trust TOTSE cause I feel it's like the anarchist's cookbook which is full of 5h17.

However, I wonder if this is real..
http://www.totse.com/en/technology/science_technology/165182...

I found a different page with details on how to obtain iodine that seems a lot more simple.. and pantyhose?? i don't think that would filter it good enough...plus it doesn't state how much HCl i would need or what strength/percentage..

what is d-h2o?

Anyone got insight into that totse page?

this is the page i got my original info from:

http://sci-spot.com/Chemistry/iodine.htm

Maybe i should buy the pill case seen here?
http://www.healthaccessories.com/pill_boxes/nitroglycerine_p...

[Edited on 9-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

[Edited on 9-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

cyclonite4 - 8-5-2005 at 19:08

Light resistant container: Amber glass bottle? Generic opaque container?

TOTSE is full of it, period

d-h2o: Maybe it's referring to water with one or two hydrogen atoms replaced with deutirium isotopes? If TOTSE calls for deuterated (heavy) water, then thats just another piece of proof that they are ACB nutcases. (I can't read the TOTSE page, because the school has it blocked, and I don't blame them

)

Scratch- - 8-5-2005 at 19:13

dH2O is distilled water. Deuterated water is D2O I believe.

EDIT: posted at the same time as Rogue.

[Edited on 5/9/2005 by Scratch-]

The_Davster - 8-5-2005 at 19:13

d-H2O is just an abbreviation for distilled water.

Dont trust anything that comes from totse.

BromicAcid - 8-5-2005 at 19:15

Store in air tight non-plastic container. Iodine will not react or degrade with light plus it looks pretty, no need to cover it up. I would recomend against using cork though.

The prep is sound in principle, acidic H2O2 is used to produce I2 from OTC preparations containing it. Though I didn't care to work out the correct amounts of reagents, this has been covered on this forum.

Edit: God, this is only the second time I've ever looked at TOTSE, the thread on preparing chlorine gas is insane, molten salt electrolysis appears to be the most viable way to produce it and it is stated the one should never mix acid and bleach (which we know would make Cl2) and instead it is recomended to mix bleach and ammonia (which would make chloroamine and other nasties)..... Never going back to TOTSE... never again....

[Edited on 5/9/2005 by BromicAcid]

Edward Elric - 8-5-2005 at 19:24

any idea where i can find the correct amounts of reagents?

edit: thanks for the amazingly quick reply.

[Edited on 9-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

Mr. Wizard - 8-5-2005 at 21:12

Most corks and plastic plugs will show signs of I2 leaking real soon. I had a small bottle of it with a nice polyethylene plug and it rusted the metal in the drawer. I solved the problem by melting a test tube and necking it down to a few mm. After the I2 was put inside the tube, at least 2cm below the neck, the neck was quickly reheated and pulled shut, with a twist. It isn't convenient to get to, but it will be there when I go to use it. I might have to do something similar with my Br2 sample.

Saerynide - 9-5-2005 at 02:05

Can I2 be stored under water since its insoluble?

cyclonite4 - 9-5-2005 at 04:44

I think any problems with storing it underwater would arise from any iodide ions, as these increase iodine's solubility. Is it possible that iodides would form in the water?

hobbylab - 9-5-2005 at 05:59

In order to form the iodide ions the iodine would have to be reduced, and something else would have to be oxidized... So d-H2O shouldnt' be a problem.
If some trace amount of reducing material is in the solution only an amount of I2 equal to the created amount of I- is solvated as I3-.

Iodine

Kinetic - 9-5-2005 at 11:10

Iodine is soluble enough in water to give you an ugly black solution with most of your iodine sitting at the bottom. What's more, every time you come to use it it will be wet.

No - the best place to keep iodine is in your pocket, mixed with red phosphorus: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127839,00.html

Darkblade48 - 9-5-2005 at 18:31

LOL, gotta love that news

Quote:

As he sat in their car filling out paperwork, his pants exploded.

Hilarious

Nerro - 10-5-2005 at 05:08

Any news posted by FOX is a little shady in my opinion.

I would store I2 by putting into a glass bottle with a glass or tefloncoated stopper. Try to fill the bottle as much as possible to avoid losing too much of the iodine as gaseous exaust when you open the bottle.

cyclonite4 - 10-5-2005 at 05:21

Theres a piece of interchangable glassware called an iodine flask. Are these what they sound like, or just randomly named?

Edward Elric - 11-5-2005 at 03:31

So, Iodine is most likely going to create a gas either way - when stored.

Hm.. Since it will eat away at certain material, the best thing to use is Glass?

But even in a glass container gas will be created?

Would that be a good idea to put in as much iodine crystals as I can? I don't think that would be a good idea because pressure would increase inside of the jar thus letting some of the gas come out....

Quote:

Originally posted by Mr. Wizard
Most corks and plastic plugs will show signs of I2 leaking real soon. I had a small bottle of it with a nice polyethylene plug and it rusted the metal in the drawer. I solved the problem by melting a test tube and necking it down to a few mm. After the I2 was put inside the tube, at least 2cm below the neck, the neck was quickly reheated and pulled shut, with a twist. It isn't convenient to get to, but it will be there when I go to use it. I might have to do something similar with my Br2 sample.

Got a picture of that? From what I understand, you completely closed off anyway to open the glass tube? And the only way you can get back to it is by reheating and opening it open by bending/twisting it?

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

i.k88s.f.u - 11-5-2005 at 04:15

I store my iodine in small test tube with rubber stopper,the test tube is placed in my freezer,its there for several weeks and no gas is been produced...

cyclonite4 - 11-5-2005 at 05:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Edward Elric
Would that be a good idea to put in as much iodine crystals as I can? I don't think that would be a good idea because pressure would increase inside of the jar thus letting some of the gas come out....

Putting more I2 in won't increase the pressure, because the vapor pressure at a specific temperature is constant, regardless of the mass present. So storing as much as you can in the bottle is a good idea. With lots of I2 present, only a small percentage can vapourise before reaching the vapour pressure, with only a small amount of I2 in a large jar, quite a bit can vapourise before reaching the vapour pressure.

a_bab - 11-5-2005 at 06:12

I have two bottles of iodine, both originals, as they were sold by different chemical companies.

The first one is made of glass, with a glass stopper which is now jammed due to the strong tendency of iodine to sublimate. You can actually see tiny crystals on the stopper and the walls of the glass, above the iodine layer. That bottle is possible very old though.

The second made of glass aswell has two lids; both are made of some sort of plastic, and they are both coroded (actually stained).

Probably the material used for keeping the bromine (the material for the lids I mean) would work with iodine aswell.

These halogens are really nasty; that's why I like'em.

sparkgap - 11-5-2005 at 07:29

To answer cyclonite4's question, an iodine flask is utilized in the analytical technique of iodometry. This is one of the redox-type titrations where iodide ion serves as a reducing agent with an oxidizing material to be analyzed. This is done with starch (or a substitute like Thyodene) as an indicator.

The role the iodine flask plays is like that of a regular flask. The crucial difference is that upon addition of the titrant, the flask is stoppered and shook. Stoppered so that the solution does not spill when shook (

), and that the iodine does not escape from the solution, which may affect results.

We did this back when I was an undergraduate.

sparky (~_~)

P.S. I keep my iodine in an amber bottle with a plastic cap. So far so good.

Edward Elric - 11-5-2005 at 07:32

Possibly I could put it in a glass jar with a ceramic stopper?

It's sad that the crystal get the glass stopper stuck in place. I will have to use a glass flask with a glass top then for this element.

If the crystal get the stopper stuck, should i use a flame on the stopper to get it to heat up and enable to twist off?

Are there such things? I'm curious as to whether this would be a good idea or not.

[Edited on 11-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

sparkgap - 11-5-2005 at 07:46

Heating a bottle containing a substance that sublimes at whim is not exactly a good idea...

sparky (~_~)

Nerro - 11-5-2005 at 12:50

On a hot day in the sun it might sublime but on the whole don't expect huge volumes of it to sublime

In my school they just use a glass stopper bottle for it. It stains your hands when you toucht the inside of the bottle but it hardly *whoomps* when you open it

Edward Elric - 12-5-2005 at 09:05

Another scientist had mentioned to me that I might want to use silica gel.

Wiki says non-reactive, so i'm guessing it wouldn't be a bad idea.

Has anyone tried using silica gel to asorb extra moisture?

[Edited on 12-5-2005 by Edward Elric]

Mr. Wizard - 12-5-2005 at 11:15

Here is what a glass sealed sample of Iodine looks like. Yes, you have to snip off the end of the tube when you need it, so it's not real convenient, but it will be there.

Iodine.jpg - 50kB

neutrino - 12-5-2005 at 12:58

I store the iodine I have in a glass vial with a Teflon-lined cap. These are easy to make: use nail clippers to cut an appropriate piece out of Teflon sheet (washers big enough for this can be found on Ebay) and put it into the cap. This will stay in if cut correctly from thick enough sheet. I have not detected any leakage so far, just a brown coloration where the iodine vapor meets the Teflon.

storing iodine

overseer - 18-6-2005 at 06:24

The crystalline iodine is best stored in tightly closed glass containers, of very small dimensions, such as the one shown in this picture I took. The commercial resublimed iodine (if You happen to own some) is so pure that it should not be removed from original packaging, except for the amounts that You immediately need. Small quantities can, however, always be kept close at hand, in a very small, all glass, tightly closed container (picture). In this manner, although some iodine inevitably evaporates, there's little space for the vapor to fill, so You don't lose much of it. Note that iodine sublimes on the bottle neck, which entirely changed its color to brownish-yellow.

It is not advisable to mix it with water or anyhing else for storage (especially not the resublimed, purified form) as it is usually required pure and dry when measuring its quantities as a reagent.

Plastic bags are super-useless for storage, as they either let iodine through, or can react with it. I've seen a storage site where people used to put a cracked iodine bottle in a ziploc bag - a few months later, the space around the bag was all brownish-yellow and filled with little iodine crystals. So, don't try to use any plastic containers or plastic/rubber stoppers. Some people tend to think rubber makes a good stopper, but this is even less so. I've even seen a bottle of butanol, sealed with a rubber stopper, in which the rubber melted and went down the bottle walls right into the liquid. Good storage practice is generally a serious issue.

Opening a bottle of iodine so small as the one depicted here is fairly easy, even after a while. However, if the stopper won't come out usual techniques can help: hitting the bottle neck lightly against the edge of a wooden table, or gently heating the neck on a flame: the heat warms the exposed neck first, causing it to expand more than the stopper inside, which in turn can help opening the bottle. However, *do not use glycerine* or other agents which are sometimes useful on stuck glass stoppers.

[Edited on 18-6-2005 by overseer]

flask1.jpg - 6kB

storing

Researcher88 - 15-7-2005 at 00:13

I store my iodine in a small jointed tube with a tight glass stopper. The iodine is then put into the freezer. To observe if any losses is present, I wrapped tissue paper around the container, waiting for few months seeing if any yellow stains appear on the tissue. I have not experienced yellow stains in a month.

[Edited on 15-7-2005 by Researcher88]

Storing iodine

Skitz - 29-7-2005 at 12:26

Wrap iodine bottle in tissue paper, put inside larger jar, seal & burry outside to keep cool.

Fleaker - 29-7-2005 at 18:02

This bottle is great for storing bromine or iodine. Shame they are so expensive.. A bottle like this would hold about 400 grams of iodine maybe more depending on how compressed it is. The PTFE stopper is a nice touch because bromine and iodine destroy rubber and standard issue phenolic stoppers/caps.

http://www.enasco.com/prod/ProductDetail?sku=SB28808M&ti...

praseodym - 30-7-2005 at 03:31

Iodine topical solution should be stored in light-resistant containers at a temperature not exceeding 35 °C and iodine tincture should be stored in air-tight containers.
Hence, i recommend that you get an air-tight container and wrapped it yourself with black paper and place it in a dry, cool area.

MagicJigPipe - 19-10-2007 at 18:46

Glass vial, glass or teflon stopper + as cold as you can keep it. I have found that to be the best way. I have noticed only minimal sublimation no more than a few milimeters from the I2 sample. Although my freezer goes down to -30*C.

I'm trying to obtain a dry ice freezer. That would be perfect! In theory I could store I2 and solid Br2 with minimal sublimation/evaporation. Although the solid Br2 might be difficult to store as solid... Something to think about though...

One could even store small amounts of liquid NH3 for short periods of time (you won't see me doing this, however). I'm going to ask around the local grocery stores to see if anyone is getting rid of one.