Sodium permanganate
Encyclopedia
Sodium permanganate is the inorganic compound
Inorganic compound
Inorganic compounds have traditionally been considered to be of inanimate, non-biological origin. In contrast, organic compounds have an explicit biological origin. However, over the past century, the classification of inorganic vs organic compounds has become less important to scientists,...

 with the formula Na
Sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal and is a member of the alkali metals; its only stable isotope is 23Na. It is an abundant element that exists in numerous minerals, most commonly as sodium chloride...

MnO4
Permanganate
A permanganate is the general name for a chemical compound containing the manganate ion, . Because manganese is in the +7 oxidation state, the permanganate ion is a strong oxidizing agent. The ion has tetrahedral geometry...

. It is closely related to the more commonly encountered potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula KMnO4. It is a salt consisting of K+ and MnO4− ions. Formerly known as permanganate of potash or Condy's crystals, it is a strong oxidizing agent. It dissolves in water to give intensely purple solutions, the...

, but it is generally less desirable, because it is more expensive, absorbs water from the atmosphere, and has a low melting point. Being about 15 times more soluble than KMnO4, sodium permanganate finds some applications where very high concentrations of MnO4- are sought.

Preparation and properties

Sodium permanganate cannot be prepared analogously to the route to KMnO4 because the required intermediate manganate
Manganate
In inorganic nomenclature, a manganate is any negatively charged molecular entity with manganese as the central atom. However, the name is usually used to refer to the tetraoxidomanganate anion, MnO, also known as manganate because it contains manganese in the +6 oxidation state...

 salt, Na2MnO4, does not form. Thus less direct routes are used including conversion from KMnO4.

Sodium permanganate behaves similarly to potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate
Potassium permanganate is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula KMnO4. It is a salt consisting of K+ and MnO4− ions. Formerly known as permanganate of potash or Condy's crystals, it is a strong oxidizing agent. It dissolves in water to give intensely purple solutions, the...

. It dissolves readily in water to give deep purple solutions, evaporation of which gives prismatic purple-black glistening crystals of the monohydrate NaMnO4·H2O. The potassium salt does not form a hydrate
Water of crystallization
In crystallography, water of crystallization or water of hydration or crystallization water is water that occurs in crystals. Water of crystallization is necessary for the maintenance of crystalline properties, but capable of being removed by sufficient heat...

. Because of its hygroscopic nature, it is less useful in analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry
Analytical chemistry is the study of the separation, identification, and quantification of the chemical components of natural and artificial materials. Qualitative analysis gives an indication of the identity of the chemical species in the sample and quantitative analysis determines the amount of...

 than its potassium counterpart.

It can be prepared by the reaction of manganese dioxide with sodium hypochlorite:
2 MnO2 + 3 NaClO + 2 NaOH → 2 NaMnO4 + 3 NaCl + H2O

Applications

Because of its high solubility, its aqueous solutions are used as etchants in printed circuitry
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...

.
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