EXPERIMENT 5

Sublimation and Solubility of Iodine

Chemical compounds generally exist in three states – solid, liquid and gas. You may be
familiar with processes like melting, evaporation, boiling, freezing, condensation etc. All
these processes involve phase transitions that occur in an orderly pattern either solid – liquid
or liquid – gas or gas – liquid.

The process of transition of a substance directly from its solid phase to gaseous phase
without going through the liquid state is called sublimation. Iodine crystals, dry ice,
naphthalene (moth balls) and arsenic tend to sublimate. Sublimation occurs at a very low
super cold temperature and low pressure. You can send something frozen you can pack it in
dry ice. It will remain frozen till it reaches its destination with no messy liquid around. We
cannot touch dry ice with bare hands as it will be too cold and might affect the skin.

Iodine is a dark grey crystalline solid. Iodine is very slightly soluble in water and freely soluble
in organic solvents. Its melting point is 114 degree C and boiling point is 184 degree C.
Iodine, whose melting point is at 114°C, evaporates clearly below this temperature. It passes
from the solid state directly to the gaseous state. This process is known as sublimation.
When iodine vapour cools down, solid crystals form, again without a liquid transitional phase.
This process is known as resublimation.

The properties of molecules within a compound are responsible for their structure, melting
point, boiling point etc. There are many forces acting between the molecules of a compound.
They could be physical, chemical or electrostatic in nature. They could be attractive or
repulsive forces. The total sum of these attractive or repulsive forces between the molecules
(intermolecular forces) is collectively called as van der walls force.

The iodine atoms within one molecule are pulled closely to each other by a covalent bond.
Between the molecules, there exist weak van der waals forces. When Iodine crystals are
heated, the van der waals are easily overcome and the molecule breaks into gas phase.
They sublime and form a purple colored dense vapor. The sublimation of iodine is used to
stain chromatography plates and in the detection of finger prints in forensic science.

Required Materials:
1 – 500 mL Erlenmeyer flask
Elemental Iodine
Hot Plate
Watch Glass
Ice
Purpose:
Show sublimation and resublimation of iodine
Investigate the solubility of iodine in oxygen-containing and oxygen-free solvents

Procedure:
Place 2 grams of Iodine in a 500 mL Erlenmeyer flask, and set a watch
glass with ice over the mouth of the flask. Place the flask on a hot plate,
and turn on the hot plate so the flask is heated slowly. Purple Iodine
vapor will be formed, and solid Iodine crystals should form on the bottom
of the watch glass.

𝐼2(𝑠) → 𝐼(𝑔) → 𝐼(𝑠)

Fill a small amount of iodine into four test tubes. Fill some millilitres of cyclohexane into the
first test tube, the same amount of toluene into the second test tube, and ethyl alcohol into the
third test tube. Seal the test tubes with rubber stoppers and shake them vigorously.

In all of the cases, the resulting solutions clearly change their colour due to the uptake of
iodine. All of the solvents used during this experiment dissolve iodine considerably better than
water. This is why they are also able to extract iodine from aqueous solutions. In oxygen-
containing solvents, iodine dissolves with a brown colour whereas it dissolves with a red-violet
colour in oxygen-free solvents.