Photo 6Doane College

The Purple Genie

"The Purple Genie-The Reaction Between Iodine and Turpentine.  An Undergraduate Experiment That Determines the Actual Products of the Reaction and Calculates Ring Strain Energy and Resonance Energy."

Amanda Lytle and David H. Smith
Department of Chemistry

 Chemical reaction "The Purple Genie"
*Click on the image above to open the video file. 
The video is an eye-catching organic chemistry reaction, which should be presented often as a classroom demonstration.  It illustrates the large amount of energy released during a kind of chemical reaction.  The reaction is taught in every organic chemistry course.  A good reason for presenting the demonstration on video instead of "live" is that the reaction produces a cloud of toxic gas and has to be done in a good hood, usually not available in classrooms.  

Several videos of this demonstration are available on the web, including one at the Journal of Chemical Education website

*Quicktime is required to run this video.  Download a free version.

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