Iodine reacts with alcohols to give alkyl iodine only in presence of phosphorus. Why?

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Solution

Iodine reacts with alcohols to give alkyl iodine only in the presence of phosphorus because The phosphorus first reacts with the iodine to give phosphorus (III) iodide. This further reacts with the alcohol to give corresponding alkyl halide which can be distilled off.
The reactions are as follows:
$2 P + 3 I_{2} \to 2 P I_{3}$
$3 R O H + 2 P I_{3} \to 3 R I + H_{3} P O_{3}$

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I_{2}

P I_{3}

O H

R - I

2 P + 3 I \to 2 P I_{3}

3 R O H + P I_{3} \to 3 R I + H_{3} P O_{3}

What happens when ethyne reacts with iodine in the presence of alcohol?

(I_{2})

A l C l_{3}

A l C l_{3}

I^{+}

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