racemic, is that first-hand knowledge about combining elemental Hg and I2?
according to Rhodium's site, bubbling Cl into Hg results in Hg2Cl2 which will not amalgamate as quickly as Hg++ salts. IMHO elemental I2 is easier to handle.
swim tried this with .25g Hg and a slight excess (1/3g he thinks) of I2 previously dried 3h over CaCl2. it did eat the end of the aluminum rod used to mix it, but after letting the excess I2 evaporate for 10 days swim has some red chunks (gotta bee HgI2) sitting in a bunch of yellowish/brownish viscous liquid. this is a far cry from instantaneous creation of the desired dry red powder as described by hellman. its been sitting uncovered in glass exposed to ambient light at room temperature so there have been photons to get it going. swim's environment is pretty dry, but he doesn't know the exact humidity.
so anyway, swim doesn't know if he should just add MeOH and amalgamate away, or if he should try microwaving the .5g of Hg in 30ml 2% I2 2.4% NaI tincture that hasn't reacted after 2 weeks. that's actually a slight excess of Hg as .63g I2 would be required for complete reaction, but hey, a little unreacted Hg should't matter.
someone please confirm that Hg and salts thereof will not evaporate at room temp so swim can sleep easier. or confirm the opposite so swim can get that shit outta his house pronto.