The compound iodoform is a yellow, crystalline, volatile substance, CI3H, having a penetrating odor (in older chemistry texts, the smell is sometimes referred to as the smell of hospitals) and sweetish taste, and analogous to chloroform. It was used in medicine as a healing and antiseptic dressing for wounds and sores around the beginning of the 20th century, though this use is now superseded by better antiseptics.
Iodoform can be synthesized by the reaction of iodine and sodium hydroxide with any one of these four kinds of organics:
- a methyl ketone: CH3CRO, where R is an organic side chain.
- acetaldehyde: CH3CHO
- ethanol: CH3CH2OH
- secondary alcohols: CH3CHROH, where R is an alkyl or aryl group.
