Methanesulfonyl iodide is produced in aqueous solutions from the reaction of triiodide with methanesulfinate. Dichroic crystals of (CH 3 SO 2 I) 4 •KI 3 •2I 2 are formed from KI/I 2 solutions with high concentrations of CH 3 SO 2 − , while dichroic crystals of (CH 3 SO 2 I) 2 • RbI 3 are formed from RbI/I 2 solutions. X-ray crystallography of these two compounds shows that the CH 3 SO 2 I molecules coordinate through their oxygen atoms to the metal cations and that the S−I bond length is 2.44 Å. At low concentrations of CH 3 SO 2 − , the solutions remain homogeneous and the sulfonyl iodide is formed in a rapid equilibrium: CH 3 SO 2 − + I 3 − ⇌ CH 3 SO 2 I + 2I − , K MSI = 1.07 ± 0.01 M at 25 °C (μ = 0.1 M, NaClO 4 ). The sulfonyl iodide solutions display an absorbance maximum at 309 nm with a molar absorptivity of 667 M −1 cm −1 . Stopped-flow studies reveal that the equilibrium is established within the dead time of the instrument (∼2 ms). Solutions of CH 3 SO 2 I decompose slowly to form the sulfonate: CH 3 SO 2 I + H 2 O → CH 3 SO 3 − + I − + 2H + , k hyd . In dilute phosphate buffer, this decomposition occurs with k hyd = 2.0 × 10 −4 s −1 ; the decomposition rate shows an inverse-squared dependence on [I − ] because of the K MSI equilibrium.