3-Hydroxytetrahydrofuran (8.8 g, 0.1 mol) was used as starting material and dissolved in dichloromethane (200 mL). Triphenylphosphine (52.4 g, 0.2 mol), imidazole (13.6 g, 0.2 mol) and iodine (50.7 g, 0.2 mol) were added sequentially to this solution. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux overnight under nitrogen protection. Upon completion of the reaction, 0.2 M sodium thiosulfate solution (30 mL) was added to quench the reaction. The organic layer was separated and the aqueous phase was extracted with dichloromethane. The organic phases were combined, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to give a wet yellow solid. The solid was dissolved in pentane (100 mL) and stirred for 2 h. The insoluble material was removed by filtration and the filtrate was concentrated to give the final 3-iodotetrahydrofuran (18.6 g, 94% yield).
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