OPERATIONAL PROCEDURE TOWARD THE CLASSIFICATION OF CHEMICAL OSCILLATORS

A general approach is presented briefly to the mechanistic characterization of chemical oscillatory reactions, based on a new operational classification of simple chemical oscillators, i.e., oscillators that contain only one source of instability (autocatalysis), and categorization of their species. We use stoichiometric network analysis to classify oscillatory reactions according to their basic unstable feature and the type of their dominant negative feedback loop. The species are first categorized into those essential and nonessential for the occurrence of oscillations. The essential species are further divided into subcategories according to their roles in the mechanism. The suggested procedure includes operational criteria for the assignment of a chemical oscillator to one of the defined categories of mechanisms and for the identification of the roles of the species. Altogether 25 abstract models and realistic mechanisms of simple oscillators have been investigated; all fit into the four defined categories of mechanisms. The classification and procedures presented briefly here are fully developed in an article to appear in Adv. Chem. Phys.