Ammonium permanganate is the

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

NH₄MnO₄, or NH₃· HMnO₄. It is a water soluble, violet-brown or dark purple salt.

Preparation

Ammonium permanganate was first prepared by

Eilhard Mitscherlich Eilhard Mitscherlich (; 7 January 179428 August 1863) was a German chemist, who is perhaps best remembered today for his discovery of the phenomenon of crystallographic isomorphism in 1819. Early life and work Mitscherlich was born at Neuende ...

in 1824 by reaction of

silver permanganate Silver permanganate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula AgMnO4. This salt is a purple crystal adopting monoclinic crystal system. It decomposes when heated or mixed with water, and heating to high temperature may lead to explosion. ...

with equal molar amount of ammonium chloride, filtering the

silver chloride Silver chloride is a chemical compound with the chemical formula Ag Cl. This white crystalline solid is well known for its low solubility in water (this behavior being reminiscent of the chlorides of Tl+ and Pb2+). Upon illumination or heating, ...

and evaporating the water. :AgMnO₄ + NH₄Cl → AgCl + NH₄MnO₄ It can also be prepared in a similar way from barium permanganate and

ammonium sulfate Ammonium sulfate (American English and international scientific usage; ammonium sulphate in British English); (NH4)2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen a ...

. :Ba(MnO₄)₂ + (NH₄)₂SO₄ → BaSO₄ + 2 NH₄MnO₄

Properties

Ammonium permanganate is a strong

oxidizer An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In other words, an oxid ...

, owing to its

permanganate A permanganate () is a chemical compound containing the manganate(VII) ion, , the conjugate base of permanganic acid. Because the manganese atom is in the +7 oxidation state, the permanganate(VII) ion is a strong oxidizing agent. The ion is a tr ...

anion, and it is a moderately strong explosive, owing to the combination of oxidizer permanganate anion and reducing ammonium cation. Dry ammonium permanganate can

detonate Detonation () is a type of combustion involving a supersonic exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front propagating directly in front of it. Detonations propagate supersonically through shock waves with ...

by heat, shock, or friction, and it may explode at temperatures above 140 °F (60 °C). Ammonium permanganate decomposes explosively to manganese dioxide,

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

, and water: :2 NH₄MnO₄ → 2 MnO₂ + N₂ + 4 H₂O Ammonium permanganate decomposes slowly in storage even at normal temperatures. A sample stored for 3 months was only 96% pure, after 6 months it assumed color of iodine and had strong smell of nitrogen oxides. It emits toxic fumes when decomposed by heat.

Quaternary ammonium In chemistry, quaternary ammonium cations, also known as quats, are positively charged polyatomic ions of the structure , R being an alkyl group or an aryl group. Unlike the ammonium ion () and the primary, secondary, or tertiary ammonium cations ...

permanganate compounds can be prepared, such as

tetrabutylammonium Tetrabutylammonium is a quaternary ammonium cation with the formula (C4H9)4sup>+. It is used in the research laboratory to prepare lipophilic salts of inorganic anions. Relative to tetraethylammonium derivatives, tetrabutylammonium salts are mor ...

permanganate and benzyltriethylammonium permanganate.

References

Ammonium compounds Permanganates Oxidizing agents Pyrotechnic oxidizers Explosive chemicals {{inorganic-compound-stub