Vesp, I started out at a low temperature--quite low, in fact, well under the boiling point of water. I didn't use a thermometer, though, so I can't give you a figure. But right away the moisture started coming off, before any I2 vapors. I should add that after the low temperature attempt I left the rig assembled overnight, and when I came back to it the H2SO4 had re-absorbed most of the moisture. However, it still held most of the I2.

The other thing that was strange was the way the H2SO4 held on to the I2. Eventually the heat was turned way up, but it didn't help. Maybe something out of the ordinary was going on, but if so it was nothing that was obvious.

I expected that the H2SO4 would have really held on to the water, not the I2, and would have bet money that the technique would work well.  That doesn't seem to be the case, and I'm guessing that this is one of those legendary methods that gets mentioned from time to time, but that on one ever really tried.

PP

I would NOT USE EBAY!!! I PERSONALLY have been raided as a result of international purchases off ebay, which was resolved after a great deal of heartache and pain, but not before I lost some $10K worth of glassware/chemicals/equipment.

Feel free not to learn from my mistakes if you must, just realise they ARE watching.

Ebay is notorious for LE sting operations. If you've ordered I2 from someone there it might be wise to prepare for a visit from someone who wants to ask you some questions about it.

Vesp, I2 dissolves in every organic solvent I've ever tried, and reacts with most. The best way to get it dry of which I'm aware is to squeeze it out in the filter as best as possible, then fold the filter up in paper towels and stand on it, then wrap it in a rag, place it between two pieces of plywood and squeeze it in a vice for 15-20 minutes.  After that it will be ready to re-sublime.

If you don't have a vice you can put it in an oversized glass or porcelain container, into which is inserted a smaller container holding dried epsoms or the like. The large container is covered but the smaller is left open. After a day or two the I2 will be very dry and ready to re-sublime.

PP
Senior Member of the Vise Squad.

Iodine solution is used to test for the presence of starch, it turns a very dark purple or blue color. Of course, it also has other legitimate uses, such as sterilization, etc.

Moose hasn't done ebay iodine since early 2000's

Just not kool unless you know of the seller from sombody..
maybe

it's just much simpler to get:

Triodine 7 Tincture - 16 oz.
Strong 2% Iodine available in a Topical Wound Dressing - superior for treating chronic inflammatory conditions and the control of ringworm, etc.

Regular Price: $7.99
Club Price: $7.11


from a long established veterinary supplier !

They used to sell 7% Tincture 16 ounce bottles for 12 bucks
Puking out like 48 grams of I !

Now the product has changed !
But it is still a stable source and safe.
16 to 17 grams for 8 bucks a bottle.

It's used in forensics to immediately make fingerprints appear.....

There's a colorless iodide tincture, many drug stores around here have it right next to the normal 30ml bottles of purple tincture.

Active Ingredients:
Alcohol 45%, denatured with ammonia,
Ammonium and Potassium Iodides........Antiseptic

Two points worth noting about it:

 -Turns out you can pull 4.5g of elemental I2 out of one of these 5$ bottles.  That almost thrice the better deal.

 -Some of you might find this to be comical, but I was being sloppy using HCl and H2O2, and had re-titrated it back over with NaOH and then used HCl again to compensate.
I didn't think much of it when the crystals appeared to have a slightly reddish tint to them.
When i picked up the coffee filter they where drying in, a bit later, you should have seen the look on my face when suddenly it had exploded in my hands, leaving me temporarily deaf from the loud pop.
For some time after, little bits that where too small to see with the naked eye, would detonate from walking around the area.

Sometime later I stumbled upon the realization that I had made NI3, simply by having ammonia and elemental iodine in water.

This was my first ever experience with an energetic material.  There was clearly no real danger, but not knowing what was going on it was scary!  Now funny.

A few days ago, SWIM had a brainwave, after reading that DCM is one of the best solvents for iodine.

SWIM had a plastic bucket in which he had made some iodine out of KI / HCl / hydrogen peroxide. He poured it through some coffee filters in a big funnel, and ended up with the usual gooey mess of wet iodine, contaminated with peroxide, acid, potassium salts etc

He really hates making iodine, and wasn't looking forward to all the steps he usually takes to get the iodine clean and dry:-

THE OLD METHOD

wash the filter with cold water to remove some contaminants
lift the filter out of the funnel without it tearing
Squeeze excess water out with gloved hands
step on it to remove more water
Place it between the pages of a yellow phone directory, and place a weight on it
wait for a day
Hope that it's dry enough to resublime (in a pyrex jug on a hotplate, with a bowl of icewater covering the neck of the jug as a cold surface
Recover maybe 50% of the iodine as crystals, with the other 50% forming a rock hard contaminated mat in the base of the jug

What a pain in the ass.

Remembering his container of DCM, he tried this instead:-

THE NEW METHOD

Pour DCM through the filter of raw iodine, into a separating funnel
the iodine dissolved in a surprisingly small amount of DCM, giving a dark purple liquid in the separating funnel.. Lots of crap, hairs, and a dead fly were left on the filter paper
Top the separating funnel up with cold water, and shake the hell out of it
Two layers quickly separate out. The purple iodine stays in the lower DCM layer, whilst the contaminants  stay in the upper aqueous layer
Open the stopcock, and decant the iodine-containing DCM into a pyrex dish. Throw the water layer down the drain.
Allow the DCM to evaporate off outside. This doesn't take long, as DCM boils at 40C.

SWIM was left with a dish of concentric rings of clean iodine crystals, and a lattice of the longest iodine crystals he has ever seen in the middle.

Another interesting thing that SWIM found was that DCM with iodine dissolved in it can be boiled on a hotplate on it's lowest setting. He expected clouds of purple iodine vapour to come off with the boiling DCM, but this doesn't happen. Iodine is volatile, but not as volatile as dichloromethane, and it's so soluble in DCM that it wants to stay in the boiling solution until it's super-saturated. When this point is reached, an occasional wisp of purple vapour can be seen coming off. Remember, the boiling liquid is only the temperature of a cup of warm coffee.

SWIM assumes that this saturated DCM can be covered in clingfilm and placed in the freezer to crash iodine crystals out, but he hasn't tried this yet - besides, the remaining DCM will evaporate naturally within 30 minutes at room temperature.

I really recommend DCM to my fellow bees. Google it, and you will see how cheap and easy it is to get hold of. It makes it so easy to get dry, clean iodine in high yield.

from: https://www.wetdreams.ws/forum/index.php?topic=21642.msg146530;topicseen#msg146530

Is there an OTC source of DCM? I know you can buy it from chemical companies, but have never been able to find it in a store.

you can distill it from paint stripper and brush softener. but some of the paint stripper sucks cause it has waxes and shit in it. the brush softener doesnt... its methanol, DCM, naptha. as you probably know, the naptha is over 100c and the methanol is 65c, so they can be left in the flask and discarded after you catch what comes over at 39-40c.

I believe heptane is also -- or pentane? is found in a high percent in a lot of spray on shoes sealers for leather, but I could be mistaken - it is some spray used for leather shoes. It is either heptane, pentane, or one of the *tanes that is a small and a liquid at room temperature.

I never understood why people use these dirty and slow methods when you can get I2 fast simple and without much stoichiometri with KI(NaI)/HCl/H2O2.

Just dissolve KI/NaI in water,little as possible at room temp.,
ad same volume of conc. HCl
You will see some NaCl perticipated at the bottom.
You can decant them if you want.
Now add 5 times as much 3% H2O2
(for example,if you added 2ml of water and 2ml of HCl add 20ml of 3% H2O2),
swirl it a bit and filter the iodine,wash it with a little dH2O.

Crush it,mix it with some dry MgSO4 and resublime.
Hairs,dead flies and table slat won't sublime,unless you heat it way too much