Post-Lab Questions - My Chemistry Tutor

We did a lab where we used cyclohexane, cyclohexene, benzene, and toluene...and reacted them with Br₂ and MnO₄.

In the reaction with bromine we used a piece of blue litmus paper to detect if a reaction occured. Now I don't exactly understand the litmus paper. I read online that if it turned pink it means the solution is acidic...but my teacher was saying something about it being an oxidizing agent...Can anyone explain this?

Second with the reaction of MnO₄, a percipitate would form if a reaction occured.

Cyclohexane- litmus turned white, percipitate formed
Cyclohexene- litmus turned pink, percipitate formed
Benzene- litmus turned pink, no percipitate.
Toluene- (Didn't write litmus color down), no percipitate.

Now from this data alone we need to answer the following:

1. Are alkanes or alkenes more reactive?
Alkanes, litmus turned white (I assume this is more reactive than pink), and a percipitate formed.

2. Are alkenes or arenes more reactive?
Alkenes, a percipitate formed with the MnO₄, although the litmus paper was the same color for both.

Now this is where I'm confused. I read in our book the other day that having double bonds makes a a molecule more reactive, because the Pi electrons are furthur out from the molecule...This is contradicting what we observed here....

Next set of questions:

3. What molecule causes litmus paper to change color?

Now looking at the reaction of Bromine with Cyclohexane..

I assumed(How am I supposed to know if this is hetero or homolytic) that bromine splits hetrolytically...giving a Br- and Br+...Then a C-H bond from cyclohexane breaks giving a carboanion and H+... So we have:

Br^- + Br⁺ + C^-(carboanion) + H⁺ ------> HBr (We didn't add H₂0, but no solid formed here...why would they be ions still?) + 1-bromocyclohexane.

Wow, what a mess right? Now you know how it is in my head >_<...

Now...seeing how we had ions floating around there for a moment...H⁺ and Br^-, couldn't either one of them have reacted with the blue litmus paper? Now I assume that blue litmus paper isn't specifically for rxns containing bromine so I'd guess H⁺, but I don't think I'm supposed to come to my conclusion that way...

Help plz >_<

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