2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
It was reported that radioactive iodine was detected in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi, Gunma, Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, and Niigata, and radioactive caesium in the tap water in Fukushima, Tochigi and Gunma. Radioactive caesium, iodine, and strontium were also detected in the soil in some places in Fukushima. There may be a need to replace the contaminated soil. Many radioactive hotspots were found outside the evacuation zone, including Tokyo. Food products were also found contaminated by radioactive matter in several places in Japan. On 5 April 2011, the government of the Ibaraki Prefecture banned the fishing of sand lance after discovering that this species was contaminated by radioactive caesium above legal limits. As late as July 2013 slightly elevated levels of radioactivity were found in beef on sale at Tokyo markets.
Carbonyl oxidation with hypervalent iodine reagents
The mechanism of carbonyl oxidation by iodine(III) reagents varies as a function of substrate structure and
reaction conditions, but some generalizations are possible. Under basic conditions, the active iodinating species are iodine(III) compounds in which any relatively acidic ligands on iodine (such as acetate) have been replaced by alkoxide. In all cases, the α carbon forms a bond to
iodine. Reduction of iodine(III) to iodine(I) then occurs via attack of a nucleophile on the now electrophilic α
carbon. Under basic conditions, nucleophilic attack at the carbonyl carbon is faster than attack at the α carbon. Iodine
displacement is actually accomplished intramolecularly by the carbonyl oxygen, which becomes the α-hydroxyl oxygen in the
product.