SUBMITTED TO : NEETHU MARIA JOSEPH SUBMITTED BY JAYSHNAV RAVI

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY 12-C NMS

 CONTENTS

1.Acknowledgement
2.Certificate of Completion
3.Introduction
4.Oscillatory Reactions
5.History
6.Mechanism of Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction
7.Simple Oscillatory Reaction Experiment
8.Bibliography
 Acknowledgement

Firstly I would like to sincerely express

my gratitude towards my chemistry mentor
Ms. Neethu Mariyam Joseph for her
immense support, guidance and
encouragement in making this project a
success. I would also like to appreciate the
staff of the Department of Chemistry for
lending a helping hand during the making
of this project. Finally, I also thank my
parents and classmates who helped me
with their valuable suggestions during
various phases of completion of this
project.
 Certificate of Completion`

This is to certify that Jayshnav Ravishankar of

Class 12 has successfully completed the project
work on Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction for
class XII Chemistry Internal Assessment of The
Central Board of Secondary Education in the year
2022-2023. It is further certified that this project is
the individual work of the candidate.

Signature
Signature
NEETHU MARIA JOSEPH
External examiner
Departmant of Chemistry
NMS

Introduction
A Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, or BZ reaction, is one of a class of reactions that serve
as a classical example of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, resulting in the establishment of
a nonlinear chemical oscillator. The only common element in these oscillators is the inclusion
of bromine and an acid. The reactions are important to theoretical chemistry in that they show
that chemical reactions do not have to be dominated by equilibrium
thermodynamic behaviour. These reactions are far from equilibrium and remain so for a
significant length of time and evolve chaotically.[1] In this sense, they provide an interesting
chemical model of non-equilibrium biological[2] phenomena; as such, mathematical models
and simulations of the BZ reactions themselves are of theoretical interest, showing
phenomenon as noise-induced order.
An essential aspect of
the BZ reaction is its so
called "excitability";
under the influence of
stimuli, patterns develop
in what would otherwise
be a perfectly quiescent
medium. Some clock
reactions such
as Briggs–Rauscher and
BZ using
the tris(pyridine)rutheni
um(II) chloride as
catalyst can be excited into self-organising activity through the influence of light.
 Oscillatory Reactions
Oscillating reactions are among the most fascinating of chemical reactions. In
one type of reaction, a mixture of chemicals goes through a sequence of color
changes, and this sequence repeats periodically. In another, the mixture
periodically emits a burst of gas, foaming up. To many, oscillating reactions are
engaging examples of "chemical magic." To those having some acquaintance
with chemistry, these reactions are a mystery and a challenge. To everyone,
they are memorable demonstrations of the wonder of chemistry. Experience
tells us that, under a given set of conditions, chemical reactions go in only one
direction. We rarely find a chemical reaction that appears to reverse itself, much
less to do so repeatedly. When we do encounter such a reaction, we may be
inclined to draw an analogy to a simple physical oscillator such as a pendulum.
A pendulum oscillates from side to side through its equilibrium position, and
these oscillations can be attributed to the interconversion between the potential
and kinetic energy of the pendulum. Analogous to this physical process, the
chemical oscillator may seem to swing through its equilibrium composition.
However, this is contrary to the second law of thermodynamics, which asserts
that once a chemical system reaches equilibrium, it cannot deviate from that
condition spontaneously. Therefore, oscillations in chemical reactions cannot be
like the oscillations of a pendulum; chemical reactions cannot oscillate through
the equilibrium condition.
 History

The discovery of the phenomenon is credited to Boris Belousov. In 1951, while trying to find
the non-organic analog to the Krebs cycle, he noted that in a mix of potassium bromate,
cerium(IV) sulfate, malonic acid, and citric acid in dilute sulfuric acid, the ratio of
concentration of the cerium(IV) and cerium(III) ions oscillated, causing the colour of the
solution to oscillate between a yellow solution and a colorless solution. This is due to the
cerium(IV) ions being reduced by malonic acid to cerium(III) ions, which are then oxidized
back to cerium(IV) ions by bromate(V) ions. Belousov made two attempts to publish his
finding, but was rejected on the grounds that he could not explain his results to the
satisfaction of the editors of the journals to which he submitted his results.[4] Soviet
biochemist Simon El'evich Shnoll encouraged Belousov to continue his efforts to publish his
results. In 1959 his work was finally published in a less respectable, nonreviewed journal.[5]
After Belousov's publication, Shnoll gave the project in 1961 to a graduate student, Anatol
Zhabotinsky, who investigated the reaction sequence in detail;[6] however, the results of
these men's work were still not widely disseminated, and were not known in the West until a
conference in Prague in 1968. A number of BZ cocktails are available in the chemical
literature and on the web. Ferroin, a complex of phenanthroline and iron, is a common
indicator. These reactions, if carried out in petri dishes, result in the formation first of colored
spots. These spots grow into a series of expanding concentric rings or perhaps expanding
spirals similar to the patterns generated by a cyclic cellular automaton. The colors disappear
if the dishes are shaken, and then reappear. The waves continue until the reagents are
consumed. The reaction can also be performed in a beaker using a magnetic stirrer. Andrew
Adamatzky,[7] a computer scientist in the University of the West of England, reported on
liquid logic gates using the BZ reaction.[8] The BZ reaction has also been used by Juan
Pérez-Mercader and his group at Harvard University to create an entirely chemical Turing
machine, capable of recognizing a Chomsky type-1 language.[9] Strikingly similar oscillatory
spiral patterns appear elsewhere in nature, at very different spatial and temporal scales, for
example the growth pattern of Dictyostelium discoideum, a soil-dwelling amoeba colony.[10]
In the BZ reaction, the size of the interacting elements is molecular and the time scale of the
reaction is minutes. In the case of the soil amoeba, the size of the elements is typical of
single-celled organisms and the times involved are on the order of days to years.
 Mechanism of BZ reaction
Belousov has discovered the first reaction of this class with the
Ce3+/Ce4+ couple as catalyst and citric acid as reductant. He observed
that the color of the reaction solution oscillated between colorless and
yellow and found that the frequency of oscillations increased with rise
of temperature. Zhabotinsky replaced citric acid with malonic acid
(MA) to create the most widely used version of the BZ reaction. He has
shown that the oscillations in the solution color were due to oscillations
in concentration of Ce4+ (Fig. 1). He further found that oxidation of
Ce3+ by HBrO3 was an autocatalytic reaction and self-sustained
oscillations of Ce4+ concentration arose after accumulation of
bromomalonic acid (BMA). He demonstrated that Brion was an
inhibitor of the autocatalytic oxidation of Ce3+. He suggested that the
BZ reaction consisted of two main parts: the autocatalytic oxidation of
Ce3+ by HBrO3 and the reduction of Ce4+ by MA and its
bromoderivatives, which were produced during the overall reaction. In
his scheme, the Ce4+ reduction is accompanied by the production of Br-
from the bromoderivatives of MA. Br- is a strong inhibitor of the
autocatalytic oxidation of Ce3+ because of its rapid reaction with the
autocatalyst, which is presumably HBrO2. An oscillatory cycle can be
qualitatively described in the following way. Suppose that a sufficiently
high Ce4+ concentration is present in the system. Then, Br- will be
produced rapidly, and its concentration will also be high. As a result,
autocatalytic oxidation of Ce3+ is completely inhibited, and the [Ce4+]
decreases due to its reduction by MA and BMA. The Br- decreases
along with that of [Ce4+]. When [Ce4+] reaches its lower threshold, the
bromide ion concentration drops abruptly. The rapid autocatalytic
oxidation starts and raises [Ce4+]. When [Ce4+] reaches its higher
threshold [Br-] increases sharply and inhibits the autocatalytic oxidation
of Ce3+. The cycle then repeats. The reader can check this description
by tracing a limit cycle generated by the Oregonator model. Phase
resetting experiments validate this scheme. One can see that pulse
injections of Br- or Ce4+ during the rising of [Ce4+] produces an
immediate switch to the phase of the [Ce4+] decrease. An injection of
Ag+ , which removes Br- by forming AgBr, switches the system from a
declining to an increasing [Ce4+] phase. Vavilin and Zhabotinsky
(1969) showed that HOBr was the final product of the oxidation of
Ce3+ to Ce4+ by HBrO3. Vavilin put forward the simplest mechanism
of the autocatalytic oxidation of Ce3+ or ferroin by bromate and its
inhibition by bromide ion.
 Oscillating reaction experiment
Equipment Eye protection (goggles) Disposable gloves (preferably
nitrile) (optional) Beaker, 1 dm3 Magnetic stirrer (optional – see note
7 below) Weighing boats or watch-glasses, x3 Balance, reading to 0.1
g Chemicals Concentrated sulfuric(VI) acid (CORROSIVE), 75 cm3
Propane-1,3-dioic (malonic) acid (HARMFUL), 9 g Potassium
bromate(V) (TOXIC, OXIDISING), 8 g Manganese(II) sulfate-1-
water (HARMFUL, DANGEROUS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT),
1.8 g Deionised or distilled water, 750 cm3 Caution : Wear eye
protection (goggles) throughout, and consider using disposable
gloves. Concentrated sulfuric(VI) acid, H2SO4(l), (CORROSIVE)
Propane-1,3-dioic (malonic) acid, (HARMFUL) Potassium
bromate(V), KBrO3(s), (TOXIC and OXIDISING) Manganese(II)
sulfate-1-water, MnSO4.H2O (HARMFUL) The use of a magnetic
stirrer is optional but highly recommended since the use of a glass
stirring rod will detract from the colour changes occurring during the
demonstration. Those of a cautious disposition might like to try out
the demonstration in private first, before submitting it to a public
demonstration. Procedure Before the demonstration : Place 750 cm3
deionised/distilled water in the beaker. Slowly, and with stirring, add
75 cm3 concentrated sulfuric acid carefully. The mixture will heat up
to about 50 °C. Allow the diluted acid to cool back to room
temperature. This will take some time. Weigh out separately 9 g of
propane-1,3-dioic (malonic) acid, 8 g of potassium bromate(V) and
1.8 g of manganese(II) sulfate-1-water on weighing boats or watch-
glasses. The demonstration : Place the beaker of dilute sulfuric acid
on a magnetic stirrer and stir the solution fast enough for a vortex to
form. Add the malonic acid and potassium bromate(V). When these
have dissolved, add the manganese(II) sulfate and observe what
happens. A red colour should develop immediately. This will
disappear after about one minute. Thereafter the colour will oscillate
from red to colourless with a time period of about 20 seconds for a
complete oscillation. This will continue with a gradually increasing
time period for over ten minutes – long enough for most audiences to
lose interest.
 Bibliography
 https:\\www.scholarpedia.com
 https:\\www.edu.rsc.org
 https://en.wikipedia.org