Mechanistic Investigations of the BZ Reaction with Oxalic Acid Substrate. I. The Oscillatory Parameter Region and Rate Constants Measured for the Reactions of HOBr, HBrO2, and Acidic BrO3- with Oxalic Acid

This paper is the first part of a study reinvestigating the mechanism of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction of oxalic acid, which is the simplest organic substrate for a BZ oscillator. New experiments are performed to find the oscillatory region in 1 M sulfuric acid at 20 °C. The removal rate of the end product bromine by an inert gas stream is a critical parameter here: oscillations can be observed only in a window of that parameter. The “rate constant” for the physical removal of bromine is measured as a function of the gas flow rate and reactor volume; furthermore, the rate constants of three component reactions important in this system are also determined. These are oxygen atom tran…