Methyl Iodide - Preparation and Handling

Preparation and Handling

Methyl iodide is formed via the exothermic reaction that occurs when iodine is added to a mixture of methanol with red phosphorus. The iodinating reagent is phosphorus triiodide that is formed in situ:

3 CH3OH + PI3 → 3 CH3I + H3PO3

Alternatively, it is prepared from the reaction of dimethyl sulfate with potassium iodide in the presence of calcium carbonate:

(CH3O)2SO2 + KI → CH3I + CH3OSO2OK

Methyl iodide can also be prepared by the reaction of methanol with potassium iodide, catalyzed by acid:

2 CH3OH + 2 KI + H2SO4 → 2 CH3I + K2SO4 + H2O

The reaction is carried out at low temperature and the water generated in the reaction is trapped by excess sulfuric acid so the reaction is not reversible. The generated methyl iodide can be distilled from the reaction mixture.

Read more about this topic:  Methyl Iodide

Famous quotes containing the words preparation and, preparation and/or handling:

    “It’s sad but true that if you focus your attention on housework and meal preparation and diapers, raising children does start to look like drudgery pretty quickly. On the other hand, if you see yourself as nothing less than your child’s nurturer, role model, teacher, spiritual guide, and mentor, your days take on a very different cast.”
    —Joyce Maynard (20th century)

    “With memory set smarting like a reopened wound, a man’s past is not simply a dead history, an outworn preparation of the present: it is not a repented error shaken loose from the life: it is a still quivering part of himself, bringing shudders and bitter flavours and the tinglings of a merited shame.”
    —George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)

    “Many more children observe attitudes, values and ways different from or in conflict with those of their families, social networks, and institutions. Yet today’s young people are no more mature or capable of handling the increased conflicting and often stimulating information they receive than were young people of the past, who received the information and had more adult control of and advice about the information they did receive.”
    —James P. Comer (20th century)