Hi Salvatore,

It may be (hopefully) as simple as using oligo/poly alkylene glycols. Check out this paper:

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/v82-355

You should be able to obtain many different oligomeric alkylene glycols from the Dow Chemical company (just type "Dow glycol solvent" into google); crown ethers from Aldrich.

Just to check, I ran a quick check in the lab here. I dissolved 10mg KMnO4 in 1 mL tripropylene glycol monomethyl ether (Dowanol TPM) then added 1 mL hexanes and didn't see any immediate precipitate formation.

Most of the reports I'm seeing do suggest some instability of permanganate in organic solvents, so I am concerned about long term storage of such solutions due to the presence of alcohol functional groups. They may need to be prepared directly before use if all else fails. I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Eric

Hi Eric,

thank you for your prompt answer, I have downloaded the paper wich you are cited.

I will do the experiment in your conditions, I hope that I will not have some problems with transmission electron microscopy after the oxidation procedure in your mixture.

Thank you ;)

Try to extract MnO4- to hexane from aqueous solution using tetraheptyl (tetrahexyl) ammonium cation.