Excited states in the proton-unbound nucleus 109I were populated using the 54Fe(58Ni,p2n) reaction at a
beam energy of 220 MeV. Gamma rays in 109I were identified using the recoil-decay tagging technique. The
analysis of proton-correlated gg coincidence data produced the yrast decay sequence in 109I, which can be
tentatively assigned as built on the h11/2 proton state based on systematic trends in the neighboring isotopes.
This sequence is completely different from that reported previously. A comparison of the h11/2 band in 109I
with those in heavier iodines shows that 109I continues the trend of decreasing quadrupole deformation with
decreasing neutron number
