Isolating Elemental Iodine from Potassium Iodide

[Guest guest]

Here is an interesting piece that appeared on the SymphonicHealth

group.

Isolating Elemental Iodine from Potassium Iodide

Iodine crystals are used in a couple of the experiments in the book.

When I wrote those sections, iodine was freely available, but the DEA

recently moved iodine to List I, which means it now requires

completing paperwork and showing ID to purchase iodine. Fortunately,

there's a very easy way around this problem. You can isolate

elemental iodine from potassium iodide, which is included in one of

the chemical kits. To do so, take the following steps:

1. Weigh out 2.0 g of potassium iodide and transfer it to a test

tube.

2. Add about 1.5 mL of distilled water to the test tube and swirl to

dissolve the potassium iodide.

3. Add 1.5 mL of concentrated hydrochloric acid (or about 1.8 mL of

hardware store muriatic acid) to the test tube and swirl to mix the

solutions.

4. Add about 10 mL of drugstore 3% hydrogen peroxide. The solution

immediately turns dark brown as the iodide ions are oxidized to

elemental iodine, which precipitates out.

5. Swirl the test tube to suspend the iodine and pour the liquid

through a funnel with a folded piece of filter paper to capture the

iodine crystals.

6. Rinse the iodine crystals on the filter paper several times with a

few mL of distilled water. The rinse solution appears brown from

dissolved iodine, but iodine is not very soluble in water, so you're

not losing much of your yield.

7. Spread out the filter paper on a watch glass or saucer and allow

the crystals to dry thoroughly. Iodine gradually sublimates (passes

directly from solid to gaseous form) at room temperature, so don't

leave the crystals exposed to air any longer than necessary to dry

them.

8. Once the crystals are dry, transfer them to a sealed storage

bottle or vial.

These quantities produce a gram or so of iodine, which is sufficient

for the experiments that require it. If you need more iodine, simply

increase all quantities proportionately.

Copyright ©2008 by Bruce . .

Source: http://www.homechemlab.com/iodine.html

[Guest guest]

I posted this because I think it is interesting the process that is required to

derive elemental iodine from potassium iodide - - - at least in the lab. If

(and I sure do not know the answer to this) the process is anywhere near similar

in the body it may explain why Dr. Brownstein prefers Iodoral or Lugol's over

SSKI for certain applications where he found that even high doses of SSKI did

not achieve desirable results (again, in the situation that was being

targeted... there may be other situations where SSKI is perfectly suitable.)

If (and I sure do not know the answer to this) the body must also have adequate

acid and then must also have adequate H202 (yes, our bodies produce and use

hydrogen peroxide) in order to get elemental iodine from potassium iodide, then

it is reasonable to think that simply supplying the elemental form (via Iodoral

or Lugol's) would improve the odds if the goal is to have both forms available

to the body.

Perhaps if the stomach acid is weak and/or the production of hydrogen peroxide

is impaired then a person may not achieve adequate conversion of potassium

iodide to elemental iodine.

I use and keep both Lugol's/Iodoral and SSKI available because SSKI certainly

has it's uses, including disinfecting drinking water and also because of this

information that was posted by Dr. Lew I believe:

<Different organs of the body respond to different forms of iodine, for

instance.

The thyroid gland primarily utilizes iodide . The breast and prostrate

concentrate iodine. The dermatological system primarily concentrates iodide.

Other organs and tissues, including the kidneys,spleen, liver, blood, salivary

glands and gastro-intestinal tract can concentrate either form - iodine or

iodide.

Hence, different tissues responding to different forms of iodine.>

>

> Source: Bruce @ homesciencelab.com

>

> by thompson » Wed May 07, 2008 12:08 pm

>

> Iodine crystals are used in a couple of the experiments in the book. When I

wrote those sections, iodine was freely available, but the DEA recently moved

iodine to List I, which means it now requires completing paperwork and showing

ID to purchase iodine. Fortunately, there's a very easy way around this problem.

You can isolate elemental iodine from potassium iodide, which is included in one

of the chemical kits. To do so, take the following steps:

>

> 1. Weigh out 2.0 g of potassium iodide and transfer it to a test tube.

>

> 2. Add about 1.5 mL of distilled water to the test tube and swirl to dissolve

the potassium iodide.

>

> 3. Add 1.5 mL of concentrated hydrochloric acid (or about 1.8 mL of hardware

store muriatic acid) to the test tube and swirl to mix the solutions.

>

> 4. Add about 10 mL of drugstore 3% hydrogen peroxide. The solution immediately

turns dark brown as the iodide ions are oxidized to elemental iodine, which

precipitates out.

>

> 5. Swirl the test tube to suspend the iodine and pour the liquid through a

funnel with a folded piece of filter paper to capture the iodine crystals.

>

> 6. Rinse the iodine crystals on the filter paper several times with a few mL

of distilled water. The rinse solution appears brown from dissolved iodine, but

iodine is not very soluble in water, so you're not losing much of your yield.

>

> 7. Spread out the filter paper on a watch glass or saucer and allow the

crystals to dry thoroughly. Iodine gradually sublimates (passes directly from

solid to gaseous form) at room temperature, so don't leave the crystals exposed

to air any longer than necessary to dry them.

>

> 8. Once the crystals are dry, transfer them to a sealed storage bottle or

vial.

>

> These quantities produce a gram or so of iodine, which is sufficient for the

experiments that require it. If you need more iodine, simply increase all

quantities proportionately.

>

________________________________________________________________________________\

_________

>

> And also this from his forum, a response to someone's question:

>

> Most pharmacies in the US carry only 2% or 2.2% iodine tinctures to avoid

running afoul of the DEA. What you have is what was formerly called " strong

iodine solution " , and it will work fine for isolating iodine. It contains 7

grams of iodine and 5 grams of KI per 100 mL of solution. Basically, the job is

already half-complete because you need only convert the KI into iodine. The

iodine is currently in solution, but that's only because of the alcohol. You can

add acid and hydrogen peroxide to convert the KI to iodine and then evaporate

off the alcohol and filter the solid.

>

> Medically, " QS " stands for " quantum sufficit " or " as much as is sufficient " .

>