Step 1 :Identify the products of the reactions of ethanol in acidic, basic, and neutral solutions of KMnO4 using the given information about colors:
Step 2 :In an acidic solution, KMnO4 oxidizes ethanol to its highest possible oxidation state, which is a carboxylic acid (acetic acid, CH3COOH). The MnO4- ions will be reduced to Mn2+ ions, which have a light pink color.
Step 3 :In a basic solution, KMnO4 oxidizes ethanol to acetic acid (CH3COOH) and forms a brown precipitate, which indicates the presence of MnO2.
Step 4 :In a neutral solution, the green color indicates the presence of MnO4- ions, which means that the reaction is not very effective in oxidizing ethanol.
Step 5 :Summarize the findings: \(\boxed{\text{Acidic solution: Acetic acid (CH3COOH) and Mn2+ (light pink color)}}\), \(\boxed{\text{Basic solution: Acetic acid (CH3COOH) and MnO2 (brown precipitate)}}\), and \(\boxed{\text{Neutral solution: MnO4- (green color)}}\)