Lab notes - Making Potassium Permanganate

My lab notes of making potassium permanganate.

First i tried reacting manganese hydroxide, potassium chlorate and potassium hydroxide by mixing them together and heating to 300 celsius. I got green stuff that i think was potassium manganate so i oxidized it further to permanganate using chlorine gas. It turned the proper purple color but when i crystallized it the result was crystals of potassium chlorate with a little permanganate mixed in.

So that was failure and i repeated the experiment again at 400 celsius thinking i just needed more heat. But it still failed and produced only small quantites of permanganate.

So i thought maybe using manganese hydroxide was wrong. I repeated the experiment but using manganese dioxide this time. I produced a much more intense color of green manganate and purple permanganate and when i crystalized it i produced the proper black crystals of potassium permanganate. To make certain it was correct, i titrated using sodium oxalate and confirmed that i had a redox active substance that assayed to 99% purity. The yield was 15.4g or about 19%.

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[NurdRage]

You don't need to heat it for several hours like i did. Other amateurs have told me they just needed to use a torch and heat it to red hot for ten minutes. Anyway, i'm still working on it, i have a proper procedure video in a few weeks.

[Comictime]

These lab notes are wonderful. Failure or success, it's all the chemistry we adore this channel for ❤

[guardduvie]

So glad to see you back making videos. You were missed!

[FrancisKoczur]

Food grade manganese dioxide is available as water filter media. Brand names Pro-OX, Filox, MangOX, Terminox, Catalox, and Pyrolox (brands are all minimum of 75% manganese dioxide).

[k.c.sunshine]

00:51 Attempt 1 (Failed):
00:55 MnSO4 to Mn(OH)2
01:32 Add oxidant KClO3
01:50 Stabilize with KOH
02:26 React in metal container at 300 C
03:45 Re-React with Cl2 oxidant
06:14 Attempt 2 (Failed):
06:22 Repeat attempt 1 with a higher reaction temperature of 400 C
07:07 Attempt 3 (20% yield - limited success):
07:11 MnO2 + KClOc + KOH at 400 C
07:28 Re-React with Cl2 oxidant
07:56 Raw product tested
08:33 Oxalate titration - 99% +- 3% purity

I wonder if one could effectively decompose Mn(OH)2 using the furnace and a nitrogen bottle?

[MrSkypelessons]

You keep my passion for chemistry alive and kicking, NurdRage! I have used your channel to make all sorts of things over the years, and I have enjoyed every single minute. Keep doing what you are doing.

[KainYusanagi]

Thank you so much for also including videos of your failures! It's really amazing seeing the thoughts and process, regardless of if it turned out to be a success or failure!

[KaletheQuick]

It's cool to still see you around after all this time. Been following you for so long now, it's wild to see the world change so.

[DerrangedGadgeteer]

I appreciate you being thorough and showing the avenues that don't end up panning out. I frequently find myself watching chemical recipes and wondering "But, what if I..." and it's great to get an answer if it's out there. "But what if I..?" ... "Then you get a big pile of poo in your filter papers "

[Antonio-qmbi]

Thanks for keeping this Channel active and posting these videos for us 🙏

[flomojou]

Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but this is the first video I've seen of a fairly successful synthesis of potassium permanganate. All the previous attempts were complete failures with either zero or close to it produced, so seeing a fairly simple procedure with even a 19% yield is really exciting. Love seeing your meticulous work, between your painstaking development of a repeatable and high-yield way of obtaining sodium metal to the many paths to sulfuric acid, you've done so much towards helping out amateur chemistry!

[eddywolton]

That's interesting, you're the first person I've seen successfully producing usable quantities of permanganate, and the procedure isn't even difficult.

[Palmit_]

Thank you Dr N. Butyl Lithium and co for another interesting video. :)

[amarissimus]

Nice to see you. Can't say how many of your techniques I've used over the years. Always great to watch your work.

[markiangooley]

Here in Florida, most grocery stores sell potassium permanganate as a pool chemical and it’s not especially expensive. The thought of making it doesn’t even cross one’s mind!

[Kenionatus]

I love seeing the journey from hypothesised procedure through failure and procedure redisign to hopefully success.

[kelvinpino]

Ohh hell yeah!!!! Finally and for first time in YouTube a synthesis of potassium permanganate that really works, only nurdrage can make it happen!!!!

[daltongrowley]

failures are tremendous learning experiences! Thanks for this video!

[twocvbloke]

Potassium permanganate is such a useful chemical, whether for cleaning water for drinking, soaking fungal-infected feet to heal them, or just being a show-off and lighting fires with glycerine, I have a jar of the stuff I bought some years back and it lasts for ages cos you need so little to use it... :)

[dtrotteryt]

Great lab notes, NurdRage. Thank you. I'm looking forward to your followup and progress in the future!