QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF OXALATE BY
PERMANGANATE TITRATION
A. ARNOCO1, J. REYES2
1
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
2
DEPARTMENT OF MINING, METTALURGICAL, AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING, COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES, DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES
DATE PERFORMED: OCTOBER 14, 2016
INSTRUCTOR: INGUITO, J.N.
1. Discuss the precautions taken in the
preparation of KMnO4.
KMnO4 easily reacts with chemicals that are
oxidizable materials. The most common
example of this is H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide).
KMnO4 also reacts with HCl to produce toxic
chlorine gas. This is the reason why H2SO4 was
used to acidify the analyte instead of HCl.
Also, KMnO4, when reacted with sugars and
cellulose (ex.: paper) can lead to fire. When in
contact with the skin, permanganate stains but
are only minimal. These are some of the
reasons why permanganate was handled with
caution and experimenters were advised to
wear gloves and face masks[1].
2. What is the significance of blank titration?
A blank titration is done by titrating a
solution with all the other reactive substances
in the sample and none of the analyte.
This method considers the reaction
between the titrant and the other reactants
except the analyte in the sample so that for the
next titration, errors from the undesired
reactions will be accounted for [2].
3. Discuss the titration with a self-indicator
and its advantages.
One of the requirements for a titration to
be feasible is for a visible and relatively sharp
color change to indicate the end point. In this
particular experiment, KMnO4 is of deep violet
color. Since the KMnO4 already has a deep
violet color, it does not need any more indicator
since in the titration, the production of Mn 2+
goes from violet to colorless.
The end point of the titration is determined
by the violet color which indicates that there is
already excess permanganate. Having a self-
indicator analyte is advantageous since there
will be no need for another chemical indicator
in the analyte which can introduce errors [3].
4. What is the importance of boiling the
KMnO4 solution if it is stored for future
use.
Boiling the KMnO4 solution gets rid of the
MnO2 from the system. MnO2 decomposes
MnO4 to oxygen and manganese. Boiling the
solution will dissolve all the solid permanganate
and so when the solution is filtered, little
permanganate will be lost and the insoluble
MnO2 will be filtered out. With this, when the
KMnO4 is stored it will have longer shelf-life
since the decomposer is already filtered out [3].
5. What is the purpose of heating the oxalate
mixture to 70-80°C before titrating it with
KMnO4?
The mixture was heated to 70-80°C before
titrating with KMnO4 to make the reaction
faster than in room temperature[3].
6. Explain the rationale behind using H2SO4 to
acidify the analyte mixture instead of HCl.
H2SO4 was used to acidify the analyte
instead of HCl since HCl is a reducing agent and
will halt the reaction between permanganate
and oxalate which will instead produce MnO 2
which are brown solids. If this happens, the
titration is no longer feasible[3].

7. Discuss the possible sources of errors and

A possible source of error may be from the
reading of the volumes in the burette. Since
KMnO4 has a really dark color, it is difficult to
see the graduations of the burette to read the
vokume of the titrant used.
Other possible sources of error may be
from the weighing of the primary standard,
over titration, and parallax reading of the
volumes[4].

REFERENCES
[1] Safe Working Procedure for Potassium
Permanganate
http://www.spms.ntu.edu.sg/cbc/safety/docum
ents/2012/safe working procedure for
potassium permanganate.pdf (accessed Oct 20,
2016).
[2] Why Is a Blank Titration Needed? |
Education - Seattle PI
http://education.seattlepi.com/blank-titration-
needed-4452.html (accessed Oct 20, 2016).
[3] W. W. Preparation and Standardization of
Potassium Permanganate
http://graduateway.com/preparation-and-
standardization-of-potassium-permanganate-
standard-solution-purposes/ (accessed Oct 20,
2016).
[4] Skoog, Douglas A., Donald M. West and F.
James Holler. "Fundamentals of Analytical
Chemistry 8th ed." Harcourt Brace College
Publishers. 1995.