Iodoform is the organoiodine compound with the formula C H I 3. A pale yellow, crystalline, volatile substance, it has a penetrating odor (in older chemistry texts, the smell is sometimes referred to as the smell of hospitals) and, analogous to chloroform, sweetish taste. It is occasionally used as a disinfectant.t is synthesized in the haloform reaction by the reaction of iodine and sodium hydroxide with any one of these four kinds of organic compounds: (i) a methyl ketone: CH 3 COR, acetaldehyde (CH 3 CHO), ethanol (CH 3 CH 2 OH), and certain secondary alcohols (CH 3 CHROH, where R is an alkyl or aryl group).
In a molecular formula, a subscript is written immediately after the letter denoting an element and refers to the amount of atoms that element has. A molecular formula, or empirical formula, is noted as a series of letters and numbers that represent a compound, or a molecule.
A chemical equation is a symbolic representation of all of the substances involved in a chemical reaction. We use the chemical formulas of substance to represent each chemical specie involved in the reaction. We also use the notation (g), (l), (s), or (aq) following the chemical formula to identify the phase of the substances in the equation.