The Chemistry of Permanganate in Degradative Oxidations

While the chemistry of organic synthetic permanganate oxidations has been studied quite thoroughly over the last 125 years, the chemistry of destructive or degradative permanganate oxidations, especially under the conditions of industrial waste treatment, is still in the process of being developed. In this paper, the reaction conditions will be characterized under which permanganate will break down specific pollutants or contaminants such as alcohols, olefins, organosulfur compounds and amines. There will also be a discussion of some of the oxidation or breakdown products.