Sciencemadness Discussion Board - what do you use to store iodine/bromine

what do you use to store iodine/bromine

wxyz - 6-2-2011 at 10:29

I once had bottle of 25g iodine from some chemical manufacturer. After about 10 or 15 years the iodine totally destroyed the cap (it was plastic, maybe bakelite). Since then I have tried storing the iodine in various jars, test tubes with rubber stoppers, or finally glass bottle with ground glass stopper, possibly enclosed in multiple ziplock bags. It has either destroyed the cap or leaked out of all of the above. Now I have it in a glass bottle with a ground glass stopper AND vacuum grease on the stopper AND I store it in the mini fridge in my "lab". The vacuum grease has turned brown but at least I don't smell iodine around the jar anymore. So that is a somewhat happy solution.

I am planning on making some bromine soon and I imagine I will have the same problems storing it long term as well.

Does anybody have suggestions for long term storage of these halogens?

1281371269 - 6-2-2011 at 10:34

Bromine is awful. I have a tiny amount, which I keep in a test tube with a ground glass stopper wrapped with teflon tape. I've then got that inside a closed plastic fizzy drinks bottle which is inside my fume cupboard (the fan itself is only on when I'm in the lab, but it means that the gases can vent to the air outside).

I also got noticeable amounts of rust on all the metal things in the area (bad, because the lab is in a garage which also houses my lathe and woodturning tools), so I spent some time removing all the rust with steel wool and spraying everything with WD40.

Lambda-Eyde - 6-2-2011 at 10:41

I store my ~25 ml of bromine in one of these, the one on the left with a red cap. The red caps are far more durable than the standard blue ones, which are made of PP. The red ones are melamine with a ETFE pouring ring and PTFE liner IIRC.

It still smells, though. Storing the bottle in a tightly closed plastic box filled with sodium thiosulfate might solve that problem as well as make storage more secure. Alternatively, you could store it in a refrigerator or fridge, but only if you have one dedicated to lab use.

[Edited on 6-2-2011 by Lambda-Eyde]

wxyz - 6-2-2011 at 11:05

Thanks for the pointer to the bottles. And I like that tightly closed box with sodium thiosulfate idea. Think I will give that a try.

Actually,.... this reminds that I have vacuum desiccator that I can't use for vacuum work anymore because of some chipping on the glass. I could but the Br and the I in there over the NaS203.

Sedit - 6-2-2011 at 11:20

Iodine has always been a pain in the ass to me and I would assume Bromine to be just as bad. With the iodine I find storing it underwater to help alot so that the cap does not corrode.

hkparker - 6-2-2011 at 11:32

I store Iodine in a amber glass jar with a plastic/teflon lined cap. The inside of the cap is purple now but I've never had a leak. I would imagine ground glass would work very well as well though.

Bromine is crazy. I am able to store it, but after much trial and error. I keep mine in a glass ampule like this <a href="http://www.sks-science.com/images/176772LRG.jpg" target="tab">these</a>. Just pour it in and melt the top closed with a torch, and break at the score line when you need to open it. Ive also heard of it being safely stored under a layer of conc. sulfuric acid in a jar (to keep it from fuming I guess as well as dehydrate it if theres any water in it).

wxyz - 6-2-2011 at 11:45

Quote: Originally posted by hkparker

I store Iodine in a amber glass jar with a plastic/teflon lined cap. The inside of the cap is purple now but I've never had a leak. I would imagine ground glass would work very well as well though.

I thought the ground glass would be the final solution too, but at least with ground glass I had, which admittedly was not top quality, it managed to leak out. I think with higher quality ground glass (better tolerances ground finer) it would leak out much less. But like I said, adding vacuum grease does stop it cold.

smuv - 6-2-2011 at 12:07

I have seen commercial bromine sold in the container Lambda-Eyde referenced. The bromine was stored in a cabinet on its own, and the area around it was not noticeably corroded. I think this would be the best way to go.

[Edited on 2-6-2011 by smuv]

bfesser - 6-2-2011 at 17:05

I've had no problem with Iodine using teflon lined silicone septa on vials. It's also pretty easy to seal into ampoules--but do it outside, as any iodine stuck in the neck will vaporize when you take a torch to it.

I don't yet have any bromine, but I would store it in multiple small ampoules, to break open as needed. Just make sure they're borosilicate.

peach - 6-2-2011 at 20:10

I have stored iodine in standard glass medicine bottles and plastic containers without any problems.

Smells yummy!

This is a strip of lithium, which should be stored under inert gas or oil. But I figured I'd just stick it in the bottle as I'm not particularly bothered about having a shiny single gram quantity of lithium. The metal is still active, but is now crispier than a crisp due to it reacting with the oxygen left in the bottle - the thread is taped shut.

This is an example of where things start getting difficult. It's a supplier bottle of anhydrous AlCl3. Without opening it, I could already see it was rotting it's own label. Moisture was getting around the seal, coming into contact with the AlCl3 and this was then releasing hydrogen chloride gas. Gradually. If it's anhydrous, tape it. Better yet, reform in situ just prior to use, as it's very unlikely it'll still be in the state it was bottled under. Even Sigma's Sure Seal septums leak and solvents bottled in them will be redistilled for critical work.

The above bottle would have benefited from a wrap with this, yet I suppose they look down on such solutions, whilst their bottles leak. In the example above, it is particularly bad as the contents decompose on contact with water, and contaminate the supposedly dry lewis acid with bronsted lowry acid, which will then catalyse the lewis acid into doing things it wouldn't normally.

[Edited on 7-2-2011 by peach]

mr.crow - 6-2-2011 at 20:58

Mmm beautiful iodine :cool:

I keep my home made sample of iodine in a test tube with a standard plastic cap (PE or PP). I glued a penny to the top followed by metal duct tape. The plastic threads haven't been discolored at all after a few years. Of course the top of the cap is black.

I stopped my sodium from bubbling by covering the entire cap with metal duct tape followed by wrapping the outside. Sneak past that, bloody water! Has anyone else used this tape? Never had much luck with teflon tape on the threads.

peach - 6-2-2011 at 21:05

You need to put a good few wraps on. It's designed for sealing close fitting parallel pipe threads, whereas the bottles have much coarser and lower tolerance threads.

{edit}Oh, the Iodine is in a bottle marked 5, which would be Polypropylene. It's brown because the plastic is amber tainted.

[Edited on 7-2-2011 by peach]

mr.crow - 6-2-2011 at 21:13

I've never had luck wrapping pipes either. It always leaks! I used the thicker gas line tape as per your recommendation in another thread on the pipes and it was fine.

a_bab - 6-2-2011 at 22:41

@Peach: AlCl3 and many others such chems do have an expiry date and this is for an obvious reason. Ethyl ether for instance is meant to be used whithin 6 months from manufacturing date otherwise it'll peroxidize. They don't take any risk when it comes to selling stuff. Shortening a validity date for a certain chem by half could mean doubling the sales. I guess the modern chemists lost his skill when it comes to purifying organic solvents, redistiling them and such. There are many old books describing these methods in detail.

For the underground chemist an old half oxidized sodium bottle, or some wet, acid RP in a rusty can are simply treasures.

I read in shock on one of my PE Merk bottles with 30% H2O2 that "after 5 years from manufacturing date the bottle may become brittle". Been 15 years now and it's still fine.

All the chemical bottles are made to hold for a certain time, then they "expire" and should be recycled. Ecologicaly. And for a glass bottle it all begins and ends with the cap. The better the cap is, the longer the warranty. As a matter of fact most of our chems are "expired" and "given away". Some were tossed away waiting to be scavenged by us. Ebay is just such a place. Just think about it where you got "yor chemz" from and how. They should have been properly disposed of long ago.

The absolute best solution is vialing. Some chems simply cannot be stored otherwise (think Cs).

As about iodine storing besides vialing, the best bet is PTFE lined cap with amber bottle. Bromine is far worse, as it's way more volatile and more corrosive.

[Edited on 7-2-2011 by a_bab]

peach - 7-2-2011 at 00:20

I realise a number of chemicals are contaminated or ruined overtime, those that are particularly sensitive to the atmosphere or reactive with regards to the container.

Using AlCl3 as an example, since most people here don't have a Sigma account and so can't get the Sure Seals, and don't have the gas handling equipment and cannula to carry out an anhydrous transfer, it may be better for such things to either be dried or generated IN the flask it's about to be used in - so it can be used without ever having to open said flask to the atmosphere. Even if you have Sure Seal bottles, they leak - Sigma actually have a page on the site about the leakage rate.

Lifespan depends entirely on what is in it and what you want from it. As you've point out, your container is over 15 years old and fine. There are a number of less reactive things that are going to keep indefinitely in terms of at home use, even when stored in fairly basic conditions. I'm thinking of the kinds of things you'd find in a GCSE or A-level chemistry lab, where there is no specialised handling equipment or critical purity involved.

I can see the use of PTFE liners, but I don't see why iodine is so needing of one. If you've got them, use them. If not, I don't think you need to buy a pack just for iodine. Sulphuric is more of a storage problem.

Iodine can be sublimated and sulphuric can be redistilled without too much trouble at home. Again, pretty much no one here has the ability to work under truly anhydrous conditions, so trying to store anhydrous solvents is something of a waste of time.

Solvent stills are still very much in use. In fact, things have moved on to solvent purifications systems using alumina. Even today, people will buy dry solvents and then redistill them as they need them, realising it will have picked up moisture. They opt for the predried things to ease the redistillation or drying.

You're correct that ampoules are the only true way to ensure something remains as bottled. I'm probably one of the few people here that sits around with his beer watching videos of students in Russia pulling them by hand. But if the thing in them is in anyway sensitive to the atmosphere, you need some decent gear to get the material out and into the experiment without it being contaminated as soon as the ampoule is opened.

The solvent still room at Cambridge University, showing that stills are not only in use, but now have their own room - the photo is from Dan's blog, Curly Arrow
<img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/4300/535534669109052/1600/433308/for%20dan%20-%2007.jpg" width="800" />

A sodium free solvent purification system dries and deoxygenates solvents on demand under an inert blanket, each tap is for a different solvent

[<a href="u2u.php?action=send&username=bfesser">bfesser</a>: reduced image size]

[Edited on 21.2.14 by bfesser]

Arthur Dent - 7-2-2011 at 06:58

For iodine and bromine, would a glass bottle with a teflon lined cap be better if it was sealed with a few layers of wax?

I've noticed that some hygroscopic chems often have a wax seal over the bottle cap. Would parrafin be good to prevent the iodine and bromine from leaking out? Or will it eat through the wax too?

The idea of empty ampules for bromine is probably the best bet to keep it from leaking. But since iodine is less aggressive, I was thinking of using a wax seal to keep it in a bottle.

Robert

[Edited on 7-2-2011 by Arthur Dent]

peach - 7-2-2011 at 07:34

You're not going to have problems with iodine if the cap liner makes a half decent seal or you tape the threads.

Putting wax on it, I suspect you're more likely to end up with problems due to bits of wax ending up in the iodine as you seal and open the bottles.

bfesser - 7-2-2011 at 09:46

Quote: Originally posted by peach

I'm probably one of the few people here that sits around with his beer watching videos of students in Russia pulling them by hand.

Glad I'm not the only one...

Panache - 10-2-2011 at 14:40

store it like i do, at minus 80C, the bromine crystals tend to be quite sedate, i have almost a full 1L bottle stored this way that previously required a new teflon insert and cap every other week at RT. For some reason the world is flush with cheap ultra-lows atm, you just need to have your feelers out. Try simply cold calling pathology labs, they routinely replace perfectly fine working ones because of protocol.
once you're used to the having one around they can tend to drive your interest into the cryo-zone though and contrary to popular myth they don't suck much power really.

UnintentionalChaos - 10-2-2011 at 20:54

I keep my iodine in a FEP bottle at -20C and it has done absolutely nothing of interest over years. No leaking, no secondary bottle needed, nothing.

redox - 24-2-2011 at 15:13

My iodine is stored slightly moist in a regular plastic container. The plastic is fine, but stained intense purple.

Storing 100g of iodine crystals at room temp?

thethule - 24-4-2011 at 15:44

Hi guys, i have a nice element collection going, but the 100g of Iodine i put in a screw top jam jar last year has pretty much eroded the metal top and is slowly escaping into the surrounding element "cubicles" (i have removed the others for now). I'm about to buy another 100g (i live in the UK, perfectly legal) and was wondering if you guys had a link to a glass jar i could buy to safely keep it as contained as I can be. It has to be room temp ideally as i have em on display.

Maybe a sealed ampoule would be a better idea? I'm toying with buying some long borosilicate tubes and attempting to make my own. Is that a viable solution? Will the Iodine survive while im heating the top end of the tube to soften and seal it? Is there any chance of the ampoule shattering if the pressure inside gets too high from sublimated iodine?

I did a search btw, but the links to jars on the article i found in this forum are dead.

Thanks for reading

bob800 - 24-4-2011 at 16:25

Please use the forum search engine before asking. Here's a thread on this question:
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=15...

thethule - 24-4-2011 at 16:34

Quote: Originally posted by bob800

Please use the forum search engine before asking. Here's a thread on this question:
https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=15...

Just so you know, i DID do a search, but didnt come across that post. But thanks for the link

I would still like any advice on the ampoule question if anyone has any.

bob800 - 24-4-2011 at 16:41

Quote: Originally posted by thethule

I would still like any advice on the ampoule question if anyone has any.

I don't know if this answers your question, but here's another thread on ampoule sealing:

https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=25...

thethule - 24-4-2011 at 16:51

Cheers mate!

HydroCarbon - 24-4-2011 at 16:55

I wonder the same thing about the internal pressure of sublimated iodine in a sealed glass container.

I've always wanted to construct a clear glass orb with iodine sealed within just to have as a novelty/ decorative piece. The iodine would turn to vapor on hot days then cool and crystallize on the inside during cool weather. Has anyone done or heard about this being done?

I would imagine that a well constructed thick glass orb should have no problem containing a small amount of iodine (one half to one gram) even at around 100 deg. F. But I would be quite horrible if it was to suddenly explode, especially if it was being held.

Temporary2 - 24-4-2011 at 17:09

We keep I2 in 500 g bottles. You must use a plastic lid. It does not cause much pressure but will sublime and form crystals on the sides and lid given time. Just do not use metal lids as I2 is still moderately reactive.

redox - 11-6-2011 at 13:09

My bromine is in a pyrex media bottle with a blue cap. I wrapped the cap in electrical tape, and I can barely smell the bromine. However, the PP cap is no longer blue, but bromine brown.

simba - 13-6-2011 at 16:24

Quote: Originally posted by Sedit

Iodine has always been a pain in the ass to me and I would assume Bromine to be just as bad. With the iodine I find storing it underwater to help alot so that the cap does not corrode.

Same thing here...it does not seem to evaporate away in water.

Morgan - 13-6-2011 at 17:49

Is RTV silicone affected by iodine? I have some long quartz tubing I was thinking to seal some iodine crystals in. They sell silicone stoppers and with a touch of the fresh RTV I could glue a quartz tube closed with iodine crystals perhaps?

rannyfash - 22-4-2012 at 02:44

is the bromine reacting with the blue polypropylene or is it just porous to bromine?

woelen - 22-4-2012 at 04:15

I store my bromine in a Schott-Duran media bottle with a teflon liner. It remains perfectly well and the cap does not turn brown. It looks pristine and around the bottle there is not a single sign of corrosion or any smell of bromine.

[Edited on 22-4-12 by woelen]

kristofvagyok - 22-4-2012 at 06:06

We store bromine in glass bottles with a PTFE cap.

It is also highly recommended to use polycoated bottles, because they don't broke so easily.

Or just the old style: in a glass ampoule (:

Iodine Containment

gravityzero - 21-2-2014 at 08:49

Around 6 months ago, I came across around 200g of iodine. Had a few plans at the moment, but had to put them on hold.
It arrived vacuum sealed in a standard plastic vacuum bag.

Against my better judgement, I have yet to take it out of the bag. I'm sure everyone knows what a horrendous mess it can be working with this stuff.
It is clear to see that the iodine is slowly escaping the vacuum bag, but it isn't a big deal at this point.

First, I was wondering if prolong storage in plastic would contaminate the product at all?

Secondly, I would like to place in a different container. Any suggestions?

Mailinmypocket - 21-2-2014 at 08:53

The iodine shouldn't be contaminated. The best way to store it is in a fluoropolymer bottle such as PFA (on eBay) or in glass bottles with Teflon caps. I store mine in the latter and it works great, no smell at all or staining of things in the vicinity. I happened to get some excellent amber glass bottles with Teflon caps from our own Dr. Bob by the way...

gravityzero - 21-2-2014 at 11:23

Thanks Mailinmypocket. I went with the teflon capped media bottles.
Picked up a few Hybex brand on ebay. It had to be one of the only type bottles I don't already have.

Really want to keep this stuff in good shape, as it can be a pain in the nads to find iodine in quantity.
Here is the point where I would usually make snide remarks concerning the government, but I digress.

Dr.Bob - 21-2-2014 at 13:32

Iodine works fine in any glass bottle with a Teflon lined cap (most of those caps are green). For bromine, the Quarpak narrow mouth bottles with green Teflon lined caps work OK, although there are similar glass bottles with other types of PTFE lids. I would keep the bromine inside at least one other container, just in case of any leaks or breaks, often people keep the glass bottle in a steel or plastic container with some Na2CO3 or similar base on the bottom to absorb acid vapors to prevent rust in cabinets.

bfesser - 21-2-2014 at 14:09

I had my iodine stored in an I-Chem™ bottle with a PTFE-lined polypropylene cap (silicone rubber backing). The cap was securely closed (but not overtightened), wrapped with Parafilm® M, and stored in a cool, dry, dark environment for a couple years. When I retrieved it, I discovered that iodine vapor had escaped and begun to degrade the polypropylene, causing it to become brittle. I have since sealed my iodine into two large glass ampoules, which I keep carefully packed in an HDPE tube with cotton.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that perhaps <em>not all</em> PTFE-lined caps are suitable.

Mailinmypocket - 21-2-2014 at 14:28

Yes. I have noticed bromine in particular seems to enjoy penetrating PTFE a bit and when sniffing the cap (which would look ridiculous if somebody saw me do it) reveals that indeed some gets through. Storing halogens in the freezer is ideal. In the case of iodine just make sure to let it come to room temperature before opening the bottle to avoid moisture condensing on the I₂ itself.

Dr.Bob - 21-2-2014 at 19:45

The phenolic caps are much better, the normal blacks ones are pretty good, the green ones might be just colored, or may even be a different plastic, but they have held up for years in my experience. I have seen commercial bottles of bromine with the green Quarpak caps, although in 2 years, almost any polymer can get softened by halogens. But I have not seen any problem myself. Bromine can even soften some types of Teflon type polymers.

And silicone rubber is not good with halogens or even halogenated solvents, which I learned when trying to use silicone rubber septa caps, which do not hold up to DCM well at all. Also remember that most polyethylene and polypropylene polymers contain some monomeric unsaturated materials, so they both absorb and react with halogens to form halogenated polymers, but that can create stress on the plastic and cracks.

DrMario - 22-9-2014 at 06:16

Related to this topic: I just obtained a 50g bottle of iodine, by Sigma Aldrich. The container seems to cope very well for now (no iodine smell). The bottle itself is made of what appears to be very thick PP. But does anyone have any idea what the cap may be made of?

In the meantime, after reading all the posts in this thread, I decided to make a Teflon liner for one of my amber glass chemical bottles, for a more permanent storage of my iodine. Luckily I have a small sheet of Teflon lying around.

zenosx - 22-9-2014 at 17:18

For bromine I have heard that only sealed glass ampules will contain it. For my I2, I use a bottle with a ground glass stopper wrapped in teflon tape. I have to really cram that stopper in there and twist a few turns for a good seal but so far my ~20g of I2 has been stable now for 2 years with no leakage.

DrMario - 23-9-2014 at 10:15

Another thing, possibly of interest: you can use a Pasteur pipette as an ampoule - provided that you have a half-decent bunsen burner or gas torch. Which I don't so I have to make do with a minil handheld butane burner, and all kind of glasswork is a PITA. But even so, I managed to seal both ends of a Pasteur pipette with some sulfur inside.

DrMario - 15-10-2014 at 12:01

I put my tiny amount of iodine into a glass bottle with phenolic resin cap and PP liner/insert. The liner got covered immediately with a thin layer of sublimated iodine.

As soon as I get my little lab fridge, that bottle goes in immediately. I really don't see any other option for long term storage of this stuff. I don't even want to imagine the travails of room temperature storage of bromine. Sounds nightmarish.

Dr.Bob - 15-10-2014 at 13:04

I have 10+ year old bottles of bromine from Aldrich that are in glass bottles with a special red fluoropolymer cap. They do just fine. They also sometimes use a clear translucent plastic cap for aggressives, not sure what is made of, I have seen it on oxalyl chloride, sulfonyl chloride, and PCl3 for example. The real issue is having secondary containment, both for any fumes, as well as to protect the bottle and prevent spills. I have had large bottles of chemicals break over the years, and several times having the bottle in a glass or plastic tray has saved me from a big mess. PP trays are good, as they resist nearly anything, glass dishes are good for smaller bottles, but not as safe for larger ones.

greenlight - 11-11-2014 at 07:29

I have stored iodine in the plastic urine sample containers with the yellow screw lids that you get given at pathology centres for about three months in a refrigerator and they end up turning brown on the inside but none escapes in any way as far as i can see as the outsides are fine.
I have since transferred it though into a Schott Duran bottle with blue lid which seems to resist to the brown staining more effectively and i feel its safer in there.

SimpleChemist-238 - 13-11-2014 at 05:56

I long time ago I stored iodine crystals in a closed glass jar with other samples in a storage cabinet. The iodine sublimated and stained other jars and bottles.

It was a mess to clean so be careful storing halogens.

Amos - 13-11-2014 at 07:17

Back when I still had some iodine(about 15g), I stored it in a glass bottle(which formerly housed some sort of food product) that had a painted aluminium lid, but the metal lid had a glued-on paper liner on the inside. Paper doesn't seem to be bothered by it; it turned a bit brown but the iodine never escaped. I didn't know much about how to store it when I was first starting out with home chemistry, but it worked really well, so that's all that matters, really.

DrMario - 13-11-2014 at 11:16

My glass bottle with small, Teflon-lined phenolic cap (I did the lining myself) seems to be holding up extremely well.

EDIT: to iodine.

[Edited on 13-11-2014 by DrMario]

Hennig Brand - 29-11-2014 at 09:15

Here is a how I have been storing iodine. Small, 50mL, Erlenmeyer flasks were fitted with homemade Teflon stoppers. Teflon rod was chosen that was at least slightly larger than the inside diameter of the flask neck. The length of rod desired to be inserted into the flask neck was turned down on a lathe so that it was small enough that there was room for a couple of wraps of Teflon plumbers tap between it and the inside of the flask neck. When the stopper was cut from the full piece of rod at least a small section of full diameter rod was left attached to keep the stopper from falling into the flask and to act as a handle. The couple of wraps of soft and elastic Teflon tape used compresses and conforms very well to slight irregularities in the flask neck and Teflon stopper providing a good seal. Electrical tape was added to prevent the stoppers from shifting or coming out in storage. Only a very slight smell of iodine is detected around the stoppers.

I could have done a much neater job of making the stoppers (they were made in only a few minutes).

Iodine Stored In Erlenmeyers With Homemade Teflon Stoppers.jpg - 166kB

[Edited on 30-11-2014 by Hennig Brand]

quantumcorespacealchemyst - 12-12-2014 at 03:55

cool. as far as liners, there is teflon sheet i use on ebay for seals and weigh boats. the only trouble is forming a seal around the bottom of corks for me, the side walls can wrap. my idea, others probably before, is if one has a screw top glass bottle, that has a flat top bottom, that a small amount of teflon sheeting, pressed into the cap mostly prior to screwing down helps to seal rather well, say for bromine (eager to do this, and liberate bromine from salts). one thing to watch for is if the piece of sheeting isn't pre pressed before screwing on, and/or screwing the cap on too tight as the edges (of the sheet) weaken/compress and depending on how it is treated may tear around the edges. one may see what i mean by tinkering with it, i believe it works well.

i got the sheeting on ebay for about 6-7USD a sheet (i quoted this incorrectly as a couple bucks a few places previous to this),

Hennig Brand - 12-12-2014 at 05:01

Using a flat Teflon seal in a screw top is a good idea and is how a lot of the commercially made chemical storage bottles are made. I have been meaning to try it for a while, but never got around to it or never saw the right container maybe. I think there are a lot of containers, such as screw top or the metal wire/bale bottle clasp type possibly (if made of glass or other suitable material), that could have their rubber or plastic seals replaced with Teflon and be used to store iodine and many other things as well. Most of the common plastics aren't really suitable for storing iodine long term from what I understand.

I looked into it a bit and decided it would be very difficult to cover a rubber or cork stopper with Teflon tape, etc, well enough to make a good seal and prevent chemical vapors from reaching the stopper. I eventually decided solid Teflon bushings were the way to go.

Benignium - 1-2-2021 at 17:03

Old thread, I know, but it is mentioned on the wiki page so I decided I'd share my bromine container of choice.

I got this from deschem, on Ebay. The size pictured is 55 mL, but it currently holds 203 grams, which is 65 milliliters, of bromine. Some got on the threads when I last filled it, but nothing gets past the fluoroelastomer o-ring. I've had bromine in it for months now, wet and dry, and it has held up perfectly.

Link to product page on Ebay

TriiodideFrog - 2-2-2021 at 01:46

Bromine can be kept in ampoules made out of test tubes or droppers. Just put a small amount of bromine( about half the test ampoule ) and heat the open end until it closes.

outer_limits - 2-2-2021 at 02:07

I keep bromine in 10ml ampoules.

They have obvious pros:
-easy to fill
-easy to seal
-glass is resistant to bromine

And some cons:
-glass can break (ampoules have not very thick walls, although none of mine broke)
- they have to be discarded when a part of substance is taken, new ampoule have to be filled with remaining part (not necessarily when ampoule was opened gently and can be sealed)

The bottle that Benignium showed seems great. However for the price of one bottle I could get a load of ampoules.

Fyndium - 2-2-2021 at 12:25

The high pressure bottles seem to cost only few $ more for 500mL version compared to 50mL. So, it could be wise considering a larger one, if a need arises.

Test tubes can indeed be very easily be converted into ampoules of any size available. The tubes should first be preformed to have a narrow neck, which a pipette or a needle fits, so the heat required to seal the ampoule will be minimal. This type can be sealed within seconds with small torch, so there will be no risk of heating up the contents. There is also a tutorial for vacuum packaging ampoules - inert gas filling would be easier, though.

If one has any plan of using the reagent, a predetermined amount could be loaded in an ampoule, so a full charge or a multiplier of it is used every time a seal has to be broken, to remove the need for repackaging, especially for small amounts.

RustyShackleford - 2-2-2021 at 13:25

Quote: Originally posted by thethule

Hi guys, i have a nice element collection going, but the 100g of Iodine i put in a screw top jam jar last year has pretty much eroded the metal top and is slowly escaping into the surrounding element "cubicles" (i have removed the others for now). I'm about to buy another 100g (i live in the UK, perfectly legal) and was wondering if you guys had a link to a glass jar i could buy to safely keep it as contained as I can be. It has to be room temp ideally as i have em on display.

Maybe a sealed ampoule would be a better idea? I'm toying with buying some long borosilicate tubes and attempting to make my own. Is that a viable solution? Will the Iodine survive while im heating the top end of the tube to soften and seal it? Is there any chance of the ampoule shattering if the pressure inside gets too high from sublimated iodine?

I did a search btw, but the links to jars on the article i found in this forum are dead.

Thanks for reading

Iodine leaks out of pretty much every bottle, you can greatly decrese the leakage by using a PTFE lined bottle (such as red cap GL45) or just having it entierly closed as with an ampule. Making an ampule isnt hard at all, especially with iodine-.

Belowzero - 2-2-2021 at 13:41

My iodine is stored wet in a glass bottle with a glass stopper which is wrapped in regular plastic foil, it has been stable sitting around for years without any noticeable change.
Boring but effective.
Only downside is that when I need it I have to get it out of solution.

[Edited on 2-2-2021 by Belowzero]

draculic acid69 - 3-2-2021 at 03:24

Iodine stores perfectly in a coke bottle.does not leak at all
Bromine will escape from anything except a sealed glass vial.
The ONLY other option is to keep it frozen in a PFA bottle as uc235 does
in his bromine video
Anything else leads to gradual escape of bromine.

draculic acid69 - 3-2-2021 at 03:28

Quote: Originally posted by Benignium

Old thread, I know, but it is mentioned on the wiki page so I decided I'd share my bromine container of choice.

$40 for the test tube and $1000 for delivery.wtf?

woelen - 3-2-2021 at 04:22

$40 for the tube and $5 for delivery.
I think that $40 for a single tube is quite a lot of money. I make ampoules for stuff like Br2.

mr_bovinejony - 3-2-2021 at 04:39

Why has no one mentioned storing bromine under a layer of sulfuric acid and in the freezer? If you don't want to melt glass then this seems like the best way

clearly_not_atara - 3-2-2021 at 16:55

For maximum convenience, you can also "store" bromine by making potassium bromate and put it in a $1 jar on the shelf... ok, there's work involved, but there's also work involved in sealing an ampoule!

draculic acid69 - 4-2-2021 at 02:27

Quote: Originally posted by clearly_not_atara

For maximum convenience, you can also "store" bromine by making potassium bromate and put it in a $1 jar on the shelf... ok, there's work involved, but there's also work involved in sealing an ampoule!

Sealing an ampoule is a lot less work than going back to square one and reextracting,
distilling and drying all over again

draculic acid69 - 4-2-2021 at 02:30

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

$40 for the tube and $5 for delivery.
I think that $40 for a single tube is quite a lot of money. I make ampoules for stuff like Br2.

It said $999 for delivery when I looked at it

draculic acid69 - 4-2-2021 at 02:44

Quote: Originally posted by mr_bovinejony

Why has no one mentioned storing bromine under a layer of sulfuric acid and in the freezer? If you don't want to melt glass then this seems like the best way

Are you Speaking from experience or guessing here?

[Edited on 4-2-2021 by draculic acid69]

clearly_not_atara - 4-2-2021 at 06:47

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69

Sealing an ampoule is a lot less work than going back to square one and reextracting,
distilling and drying all over again

Making bromine from (clean) potassium bromate is a lot easier than making it from any OTC precursor. Back to square three, maybe. Just combine with hydrobromic acid (itself not that hard to store) under cooling.

Plus, you can use bromate directly in many procedures where you might otherwise want to use bromine, including e.g. aromatic bromination.

FrenchChemist - 6-2-2021 at 04:01

only screw cap line from PBT with PTFE coated silicone seal

Tellurium - 16-2-2021 at 11:10

I stored my Br2 in glass ampules before, but I think I found a way better solution now. I'm using the "pure premium" caps for the GL45 duran Bottles. They are made out of TFA with a PTFE liner. I put a quantitiy of Br2 in one bottle and stored it outside for a year, so it even got warm in the summer. Now after over a year there isn't even the slightest bit that got out, it still weights the same.
But if you don't find them relatively cheap secondhand they are very expensive, but a better solution to ampules, as you can just take the amount out, that you need.

Fyndium - 16-2-2021 at 11:14

I have a bottle of iodine that's over 10 years old, opened a couple of times and haven't ever noticed anything noteworthy on it's wellkeeping. I haven't found iodine to be difficult to store, hence.

Tellurium - 17-2-2021 at 03:34

With Iodine I also don't have any issues at all. Especially since I'm storing it in the freezer.

Amos - 17-2-2021 at 09:29

An ordinary glass reagent jar from the old days with a plain rubber stopper is basically flawless. I've been using the same iodine for 6 years without issue.

Texium - 17-2-2021 at 15:29

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

$40 for the tube and $5 for delivery.
I think that $40 for a single tube is quite a lot of money. I make ampoules for stuff like Br2.

It said $999 for delivery when I looked at it

You’re in Australia right? That’s Deschem’s way of saying that they aren’t allowed to ship to Australia anymore.

Those pressure tubes are nice though. I’ve used them for running high pressure reactions, some of which contained some pretty nasty stuff under pressure, and they still held up perfectly. The key is that you use a good quality o-ring, like Viton, and replace it if it ever starts getting crispy. The lids themselves are solid PTFE: not gonna be touched by anything.

Edit: but to be clear, I think they’re overkill for bromine. Bromine is fine in a regular media bottle in the freezer. Keep it frozen when you aren’t using it and you won’t have problems. I would be more inclined to use a pressure tube to store reagents that are both corrosive and water sensitive, since storing water sensitive stuff in the freezer can get messy due to condensation.

[Edited on 2-17-2021 by Texium (zts16)]

draculic acid69 - 18-2-2021 at 01:04

If they just say we no longer ship to Australia it's a lot easier than trying to decode
such a ridiculous delivery price. have any other Australians seen this with deschem? Is it just this product or all glassware? And since when
have they cared whether or not there "allowed"

Antigua - 18-2-2021 at 01:21

Come on, it's not that difficult to understand that some businessess just prefer to do things that are commercialy profitable for them. Hence why not many suppliers at all ship to places like Australia, New Zealand or other islands. The risk gets exponentially larger while the profits don't.

Rutherford - 19-2-2021 at 10:19

If you must have a screw down cap I think a better value is to buy the premium TpCh260 from duran.

They don't sell directly but have many distributors that offer 5 for arround 50-60$.

I only have one but managed to buy it really cheap (really nice distributor).

Edit: I see Tellurium also recommended them and I can back up his statement 100%. It holds bromine no problem.

[Edited on 19-2-2021 by Rutherford]

Tellurium - 24-2-2021 at 17:22

Quote: Originally posted by Rutherford

They don't sell directly but have many distributors that offer 5 for arround 50-60$.

I only have one but managed to buy it really cheap (really nice distributor).

[Edited on 19-2-2021 by Rutherford]

For the people from Europe:
Currently there is also a seller, that sells the bottles including the premium caps on ebay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-ml-Schott-Duran-Premium-Labor...

The same seller also has a package of 10 bottles for cheaper.
I also got mine from ebay for very cheap back in the day, sometimes there are sellers offering it(pretty rare though). Auctions are probably best, I got 10pcs for under 100 bucks, because demand doesn't seem to be that high, but with that offer prices are also totaly ok compared to the market.

Edit:
I just saw, that the other offer for 10pcs isn't from the same seller, here is the link:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-Stuck-VE-Schott-Duran-Premium-...

[Edited on 25-2-2021 by Tellurium]