Elementary-step kinetics, oscillatory

There remains one objection—of a less precise kind but felt by many chemists. It is that third-order kinetics as embodied in the representation of step (1) are intrinsically objectionable. If the equations had to be interpreted as representing elementary steps, this would be a weightier consideration, but it has also been asserted that the oscillatory properties of certain other model schemes collapse completely (King, 1983 Gray and Morley-Buchanan, 1985) if the third-order steps therein are replaced. Accordingly it is most desirable to establish whether oscillations and other exotic behaviour arising from a cubic rate-law of the form k ab2 can also arise from a series of successive second-order or bimolecular steps. Similar interests have been expressed previously by Tyson (1973) and Tyson and Light (1973). 

The model has acted as a useful stimulus. It is the only oscillatory model involving not more than two intermediates and having elementary reaction steps with only first- or second-order kinetics, and also satisfying sudi basic diranical reasonableness as non-native concentrations. However, a chemically satisfactory identification of X and Y with species known to be involved has never been attained it is now widely recognized that the conservative oscillations, to which this model in its isothermal form corresponds, cannot be the basis for those actually observed. ... 

First elementary reaction steps at an isolated reaction center have been considered and then the increasing complexity of the catalytic stem when several reaction centers operate in parallel and communicate. This situation is common in heterogeneous catalysis. On the isolated reaction center, the key step is the self repair of the weakened or disrupted bonds of the catalyst once the catalytic cycle has been concluded. Catalytic systems which are comprised of autocatalytic elementary reaction steps and communication paths between different reaction centers, mediated through either mass or heat transfer, may show self-organizing features that result in oscillatory kinetics and spatial organization. Theory as well as experiment show that such self-organizing phenomena depend sensitively on the size of the catalytic system. When the system is too small, collective behavior is shut down. 

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