The Source of the Carbon Monoxide in the Classical Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction

CO and CO2 evolution was measured in a cerium and in a ferroin-catalyzed Belousov−Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. These gases were stripped from the reaction mixture by a N2 carrier gas, mixed with H2, converted to methane on a Ni catalyst, and then measured by a flame ionization detector (FID). CO could be detected separately by absorbing CO2 on a soda lime column. In separate experiments it was proven that CO is produced in a reaction of BrO2• radicals with bromomalonic acid (BrMA). To this end BrO2• radicals were generated in two different ways:  (i) in the reaction HBrO2 + HBrO3 ↔ 2 BrO2• + H2O and (ii) by reducing HBrO3 to BrO2• by Fe2+. It was found that •OH radicals produced by Fenton's r…