It is a purplish-black crystalline salt, which dissolves in water as K+ and MnO−4 ions to give an intensely pink to purple solution.

Potassium permanganate is widely used in the chemical industry and laboratories as a strong oxidizing agent, and also as a medication for dermatitis, for cleaning wounds, and general disinfection.

[10] This includes fungal infections of the foot, impetigo, pemphigus, superficial wounds, dermatitis, and topical ulcers.

[17] During World War I Canadian soldiers were given potassium permanganate (to be applied mixed with an ointment) in an effort to prevent sexually transmitted infections.

[30] Concentrated solutions when drunk have resulted in acute respiratory distress syndrome or swelling of the airway.

[citation needed] It is available under a number of brand names including Permasol, Koi Med Tricho-Ex, and Kalii permanganas RFF.

It is used as a regeneration chemical to remove iron and hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) from well water via a "manganese greensand" filter.

[39] Modern hiking and survivalist guides advise against using potassium permanganate in the field because it is difficult to dose correctly.

[40] It currently finds application in the control of nuisance organisms such as zebra mussels in fresh water collection and treatment systems.

KMnO4 solution is a common thin layer chromatography (TLC) stain for the detection of oxidizable functional groups, such as alcohols, aldehydes, alkenes, and ketones.

[44][45][46] Potassium permanganate can be used to quantitatively determine the total oxidizable organic material in an aqueous sample.

In analytical chemistry, a standardized aqueous solution of KMnO4 is sometimes used as an oxidizing titrant for redox titrations (permanganometry).

[48] Aqueous, acidic solutions of KMnO4 are used to collect gaseous mercury in flue gas during stationary source emissions testing.

By removing ethylene by oxidation, the permanganate delays the ripening, increasing the fruit's shelf life up to 4 weeks without the need for refrigeration.

[59] Potassium permanganate is added to "plastic sphere dispensers" to create backfires, burnouts, and controlled burns.

Potassium permanganate is one of the principal chemicals used in the film and television industries to "age" props and set dressings.

Its ready conversion to brown MnO2 creates "hundred-year-old" or "ancient" looks on hessian cloth (burlap), ropes, timber and glass.

[64] Potassium permanganate is one of a number of possible treatments for Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (commonly known as "ich"), a parasite that infects and usually kills freshwater aquarium fish.

In 1659, Johann Rudolf Glauber fused a mixture of the mineral pyrolusite (manganese dioxide, MnO2) and potassium carbonate to obtain a material that, when dissolved in water, gave a green solution (potassium manganate) which slowly shifted to violet and then finally red.

Potassium permanganate was comparatively easy to manufacture, so Condy was subsequently forced to spend considerable time in litigation to stop competitors from marketing similar products.

[citation needed] Potassium permanganate is produced industrially from manganese dioxide, which also occurs as the mineral pyrolusite.

Tests for the presence of manganese exploit the vivid violet color of permanganate produced by these reagents.

This behaviour is also used as a qualitative test for the presence of double or triple bonds in a molecule, since the reaction decolorizes the initially purple permanganate solution and generates a brown precipitate (MnO2).

However, bromine serves better in measuring unsaturation (double or triple bonds) quantitatively, since KMnO4, being a very strong oxidizing agent, can react with a variety of groups.

For example, addition of potassium permanganate to an aqueous solution of sugar and sodium hydroxide produces the chemical chameleon reaction, which involves dramatic color changes associated with the various oxidation states of manganese.