In the presence of KI, iodine crystals dissolve rapidly in an aqueous solution forming triiodide ions (I 3 -) and other neutral species. The experimental evidence does not support the formation of polyiodide ions such as I 5 -, I 7 -, etc. in the solution. However, there is a strong evidence suggesting the formation of polyiodine species, I 2x , where x ) 2, 3, etc., stabilized by H + ions in the solution. Ab initio results are presented for structures and energies of some of these species with an x value of up to 4. Each geometry optimization was done at the HF/LANL2DZ level followed by a single-point energy calculation at the MP2/LANL2DZ level. These calculations suggest that the isolated polyiodine species are not stable and, among the complexed species, the protonated clusters are most stable.
IntroductionIt is a common observation that the solubility of iodine crystals in water is remarkably increased when KI is added to the solution. It is believed by many that the polyiodide ions such as I 3 -, I 5 -, I 7 -, etc., form in the aqueous solution 1-6 and take part in the formation of blue amylose iodine (AI) or more commonly known as starch-iodine complex. While a number of researchers considered the involvement of I 3 -ions with the complex, 1,2 others considered the involvement of I 5 -ions, 3-5 I 7 -ions, 6 or species without any I -ions. 6,7 Because of the lack of direct experimental results, the above controversy remained undiminished until very recently. Our recent experiment 8 with an iodide ion selective electrode (ISE) suggests that the iodide ions are not consumed in the AI complex forming reaction even when these ions are present in the solution. This finding suggests that the iodide ions are not required for the AI complex formation and, hence, one can ignore the possible involvement of I 3 -, I 5 -, and I 7 -species with the complex.To the best of our knowledge, the original consideration of these species, especially the larger ones, like I 5 -and I 7 -in the solution stemmed from the AI complex forming chemistry, and in view of the above ISE results it became necessary to reexamine the presence of polyiodide ions in the solution. It should be pointed out that the polyiodide ions such as I 3 -and I 5 -are known to exist 9-14 in solid crystal structures. However, their existence in aqueous solutions has never been confirmed. Even though the gas-phase theoretical studies predict significant stability for each of the I 3 -and I 5 -ions (relative to separated constituent molecules and ions), 15 it is not known whether they can survive frequent collisions with solvent molecules in the solution. In an aqueous solution, the following reactions can be considered for the formation of large polyiodide species,