In the history of human civilization, there come few and far between pivotal moments of truly original scientific advent. We find ourselves in this moment with the advent of molecular iodine.

Iodine has a significant history with a powerful group of substances that now have a new addition to their past seafaring fleet. This even perhaps gives some justification and retribution to their phaseout and lays the foundation for an upcoming succession to now survival’s fittest scientific evolutionary permutation.

Iodine has been used over past centuries as the primary antibiotic agent both internally and externally. Over the past century, it has been phased out from it’s position as a societal backbone of medicine to a space of relative unknowness in the commercial supplement space (ex. Lugol’s solution as a dilution form of potassium iodide, nascent iodine as ionized iodide and iodate) yet still used in medical grade settings in the form of PVP-I as surgical derma cleaning. In the creation of this current enterprise, I have learned much of the wonderful, rich, and magical history of iodine that I wish to begin sharing with you to revive the nostalgic feelings of the era of scientific and chemical exploration. I hope these papers spark in you the taste of curiosity of the 19th and 20th centuries of scientific and technological exploration and innovation that built modern society on our current evolutionary step on the forward march into the future ablyssful expansion of the human race and our initial planet. 

“In 1811, iodine was discovered by French chemist Bernard Courtois,[9][10] who was born to a manufacturer of saltpetre (an essential component of gunpowder). At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, saltpetre was in great demand in France. Saltpetre produced from French nitre beds required sodium carbonate, which could be isolated from seaweed collected on the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. To isolate the sodium carbonate, seaweed was burned and the ash washed with water. The remaining waste was destroyed by adding sulphuric acid. Courtois once added excessive sulphuric acid and a cloud of violet vapour rose. He noted that the vapour crystallised on cold surfaces, making dark black crystals.[11] Courtois suspected that this material was a new element but lacked funding to pursue it further.[12]

Courtois gave samples to his friends, Charles Bernard Desormes (1777–1838) and Nicolas Clément (1779–1841), to continue research. He also gave some of the substance to chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850), and to physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836). On 29 November 1813, Desormes and Clément made Courtois' discovery public. They described the substance to a meeting of the Imperial Institute of France.[13] On 6 December, Gay-Lussac announced that the new substance was either an element or a compound of oxygen.[14][15][16] Gay-Lussac suggested the name "Iodine", from the Ancient Greek Ιώδης (iodos, "violet"), because of the colour of iodine vapor.[9][14] Ampère had given some of his sample to English chemist Humphry Davy (1778–1829), who experimented on the substance and noted its similarity to chlorine.[17] Davy sent a letter dated 10 December to the Royal Society of London stating that he had identified a new element.[18] Arguments erupted between Davy and Gay-Lussac over who identified iodine first, but both scientists acknowledged Courtois as the first to isolate the element.[12]” 

- Courtesy of Wikipedia

But this discovery is that of elemental iodine. It wasn’t until 18 years later until the first consumable form of iodine was introduced to the public. 

“Lugol’s solution (LS) was developed 1829 by the French physician Jean Guillaume August Lugol, initially as a cure for tuberculosis. It is a solution of elemental iodine (5%) and potassium iodide (KI, 10%) together with distilled water. It has been used as a disinfectant, a reagent for starch detection in organic compounds, in histologic preparations, in dental procedures and in diagnosis of cervical cell alterations, the Schiller´s test (Table 1). Already in the 1920s LS was given as a pre-treatment to thyroid surgery [1]. By that time LS became the standard pre-operative treatment in patients with Graves’ disease (GD). Iodide treatment could also be given as a saturated solution of potassium iodide (SSKI) or tablets. Radiopaque cholecystographic agents such as iopanic acid containing iodide has also been used previously, although nowadays their use is restricted [2]. These agents are also potent inhibitors of type 1 and type 2 deiodinases, blocking the conversion of T4 to T3 and rT3 to T2 [3].” 

  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5693970/#: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5693970/#:~:text=Lugol's%20solution%20(LS)%20was%20developed,%25)%20together%20with%20distilled%20water.

“Iodine’s first appearance as a product for medical use came two decades after Courtois’s discovery in a dark-brown solution called Lugol’s iodine, named after its inventor, the French physician Jean Lugol. Since then, Lugol’s mix – iodine, potassium iodide, and water – has been the foundation of a vast range of chemical adaptations under the product umbrella of ‘iodine’, to the point where the name is now applied to a broad spectrum of water-soluble applications – called iodophors – used in medicine, industry, and agriculture. For the team at I2Pure, this amounts to an abuse of iodine’s nomenclature. In addition, whereas the antiseptic and antibacterial benefits of iodine are enthusiastically embraced, mentioning the name ‘iodine’ in the medical community conjures up images of topical disinfectants that may be effective but stain the skin and can be toxic. Such misperceptions mask the complexity of iodine’s chemistry.

Iodine may sit on the period table as the chemical symbol I, grouped with its halogen cousins, but in the broader field of chemical applications, it has several forms. These include iodide, iodate, triiodide, polyiodides, and hypoiodous acid. At the heart of I2Pure’s research is diiodine, or I2, the active molecule in iodine solutions that gives them antiseptic properties. It is the I2 molecule that penetrates the cell walls and membranes of harmful microorganisms, interferes with their DNA synthesis, and binds to proteins within them, effectively smothering them. However, molecular iodine reacts with water in solution to form hypoiodous acid. This represents the single biggest challenge for topical iodine solution formulators. In the presence of water, aqueous topical iodine disinfectants have a relatively low concentration of I2 and a very high (>1,000 fold) concentration of other iodine species.

To dispel the idea that I2 is responsible for topical iodine staining and irritation, the I2Pure team have isolated and stored I2 in such a way that it can be studied independently from other degradation products. They found that concentrations of I2 that are 1,500 times higher than that found in PVP-I can be applied to skin without irritation and staining. While examining its role in iodine solutions, Kessler has also observed that when PVP-I is diluted, the active concentration of molecular I2 increases. Despite the apparent anomaly, the explanation is simple: the available I2 sticks around. The reason, Kessler points out, is that the carrier molecule within the solution releases more active I2 to do its work. This also means that the more PVP-I is diluted, the less toxic it becomes, and the more effective an antiseptic it is. Based on their knowledge of iodine chemistry and corroborated by their experimental studies, the researchers at I2Pure put forward the idea that emollient topical iodine formulations are preferable to aqueous preparations in exploiting iodine’s antiseptic properties.”

  https://researchoutreach.org/articles/unlocking-iodines-true-potential

When applied directly to the skin, the non-toxic molecular iodine is absorbed into the lower layer of skin (known as the hypodermis or subcutaneous tissue) – so it can’t be washed away. It’s then slowly released back and out through the outer layer of skin, the epidermis. Here, it tackles the pathogens from underneath. Importantly, this ‘outgassing’ – the release of I2 through the skin – takes place over a few hours. This allows molecular iodine’s promiscuous electrons to shred their way through the pathogens in a constant, targeted barrage. What’s more, the assault can be intense.

According to Kessler, converting the hypodermis into a matrix that slowly releases I2 over time is key to achieving more effective topical disinfection. In addition, molecular iodine can act as an anti-inflammatory agent, stimulate wound healing, and help treat infectious diseases. Medical staff could save more lives if hospitals had access to more chemically stable and effective formulations to kill pathogens. This is especially significant in the face of the threat from nosocomial, or hospital-acquired, infections that, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kill about 99,000 people a year in the US alone.

It is remarkable that staff in clinical settings around the world rely so much on iodine solutions but are unaware of the true potential. It is also ironic that misperceptions hamper that potential. The team at I2Pure have found a way to secure a solid defence against microbial attack; the next step in rolling it out is for fellow researchers, medical communities, and policymakers to rethink how they see iodine.”