Why does potassium permanganate oxidize formic acid and oxalic acid, but has no reaction with benzoic acid and acetic acid?
The reactions were heated in a water bath (~70-80 °C). Oxalic acid had turned colorless:
$$\ce{C2H2O4 + KMnO4 + 6 H+ -> CO2 + H2O + Mn^2+ + KOH}$$
The same reaction could be said for formic, but with the formation of a brownish precipitate:
$$\ce{HCOOH + KMnO4 + 6 H+ -> CO2 + H2O + MnO2 + KOH}$$
For both the benzoic and acetic acid, they remained purple. I do not know whether the structure could be the reason for not reacting at that certain temperature, or something. Could it be possible that the temperature alone is responsible for not allowing the redox reaction to occur for both acetic acid and benzoic acid?
I looked around online and read that alkanes and aromatic compounds don't react with $\ce{KMnO4}$ from one source (Experiment 5 – Reactions of Hydrocarbons, laney.edu). I was not aware of the fact that potassium permanganate could oxidize anything under certain conditions, thank you for that fact.