Sustained self-organizing pH patterns in hydrogen peroxide driven aqueous redox systems

Abstract

Many pattern developments in nature are believed to result from the interplay between self-activated (bio)chemical processes and the diffusive transport of constituents. Though the details are difficult to work out, the relevance of reaction–diffusion processes is widely accepted in many aspects of biological development. Due to their easier manipulation and control, aqueous phase chemical reactions are commonly preferred to probe the patterning capacity of reaction–diffusion processes. Nonetheless, sustained patterns of such a type were observed only in reactions involving oxyhalogen compounds. We report on halogen free solution chemistry systems which lead to stationary or oscillatory spatiotemporal pH patterns. They are based on the acid autocatalytic oxidation of sulfite ions by hydrogen peroxide in combination with two significantly different proton consuming feedback reactions. Besides the chemical novelty, yet experimentally and even theoretically undocumented pattern dynamics are uncovered. This success, based on a well-defined method, further paves the way to the discovery of stationary patterns in delicate biochemical reactions.