Table of contents

This is an oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction:

2 MnVII + 10 e- → 2 MnII (reduction)

15 C-II - 10 e- → 15 C-4/3 (oxidation)

KMnO4 is an oxidizing agent, C3H8O is a reducing agent.

input interpretation

CH3CH2CH2OH + KMnO4 + H2SO4 → CH3COCH3 + MnSO4 + H2O + K2SO N-propanol potassium sulfuric acid acetone manganese(II)sulfate potassium 

Permanganate sulfate  

Word equation

N-propanol + potassium permanganate + sulfuric acid acetone + manganese(II) sulfate + water + potassium sulfate

Balanced equation

Balance the chemical equation algebraically:

CH3CH2CH2OH + KMnO4 + H2SO4 → CH3COCH3 + MnSO4 + H2O + K2SO

Add stoichiometric coefficients, c, to the reactants and products:

c1CH3CH2CH2OH + c2KMnO4 + c3H2SO4 → c4 CH3OCH3 + c5MnSO4 +

c6H2O + c7K2SO

Set the number of atoms in the reactants equal to the number of atoms in the products for C, H, O, K, Mn and S:

C: 3c1 = 3c4

H: 8c1+ 2c3 = 6c4 +2c6

O: c1+ 4c2 + 4c3 = c4 + 4c5 + c6 + 4c7

K: c2 = 2c7

Mn: c2 = c5

S: c3 = c5 + c7

Since the coefficients are relative quantities and underdetermined, choose a coefficient to set arbitrarily. To keep the coefficients small, the arbitrary value is ordinarily one. For instance, set c7 = 1 and solve the system of equations for the remaining coefficients:

 c1 = 5

 c2=2

c3 = 3

c4=5

c5=2

c6=8

c7=1

Substitute the coefficients into the chemical reaction to obtain the balanced equation:

Answer:

CH3CH2CH2OH + KMnO4 + H2SO4 → CH3COCH3 + MnSO4 + H2O + K2SO