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)
“Living each day as a preparation for the next is an exciting way to live. Looking forward to something is much more fun than looking back at something—and much more constructive. If we can prepare ourselves so that we never have to think, “Oh, if I had only known, if I had only been ready,” our lives can really be the great adventure we so passionately want them to be.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)
“For a novel addressed by a man to men and women of full age; which attempts to deal unaffectedly with the fret and fever, derision and disaster, that may press in the wake of the strongest passion known to humanity; to tell, without a mincing of words, of a deadly war waged between flesh and spirit; and to point the tragedy of unfulfilled aims, I am not aware that there is anything in the handling to which exception can be taken.”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)