[nela.maze]

Dear Chemists,

Last week we had alkenes in school. We briefly covered the theme of the reaction of ethene with potassium manganate(VII) in a neutral environment. We did the redox reactions to this, and it was something like this:
2 MnO₄^- + 3 CH₂=CH₂ + 4 H₂O  2 MnO₂ + 3 CH₂OH-CH₂OH + 2 OH^-

However, we did not talk about what happens in an acidic or alkaline environment. I googled it but couldn't find it anywhere. So I just assumed the product was still ethylene glycol. Why? Because when manganate reacts with another reducing agent, for example, SO₃^2-, this reagent in all environments ends up being SO₄^2-. That is why I assumed that in all environments ethene turns to ethylene glycol. Is that true?


I also did the redox reactions and they seem okay

in an acidic environment:
2 MnO₄^- + 5 CH₂=CH₂ + 6 H⁺ + 2H₂O  2 Mn²⁺ + 5 CH₂OH-CH₂OH

in an alkaline environment:
2 MnO₄^- + CH₂=CH₂ + 2 OH^-  2 MnO₄^2- + CH₂OH-CH₂OH

Please tell me if it's right and if it's not right, what do we get when ethene reacts with potassium manganate(VII) in and acidic and alkaline environment.

[Borek]

The lower the pH, the stronger oxidizing properties of permanganate, and alcohols are quite easy to oxidize further.