Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics

布兰代斯大学的欧文·R·爱泼斯坦和阿纳托尔·扎博廷斯基获得了理论和计算化学计划颁发的非线性化学动力学研究奖。该奖项得到了NSF数学科学部和国际科学与工程办公室的部分共同资助。PI正在使用市场上可获得的酶和底物设计新的化学振荡器，并将这些系统用于图案工程。这些研究同时使用了实验和计算技术。他们还在进行研究，以建造第一台在间歇条件下运行的pH振荡器。这项研究是与匈牙利的研究人员合作进行的。人们的期望是，这些反应可能有助于药物输送系统和分子马达或传感器的开发。一项由英国科学家参与的合作研究将使用磁共振成像来探索由PI的实验室开发的反应扩散微乳液系统(BZ-AOT系统)中的三维图案。此外，这项研究还将探索几个振荡化学反应中不同层图案之间的耦合效应。最后，PI正在研究交叉扩散对图案形成的影响，交叉扩散是一种现象，在这种现象中，一个物种在空间中的移动受到其他物种浓度梯度的影响。后一项研究涉及与意大利科学家的合作，将使用欧洲同步辐射设备进行实验，以调查和比较BZ-AOT系统和磷脂系统中的详细结构。这项工作对我们对化学体系中图案形成的理解产生了广泛的影响，并通过学生参与国际研究产生了进一步的广泛影响。

Irving R. Epstein and Anatol Zhabotinsky of Brandeis University are supported by an award from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program for research in nonlinear chemical dynamics. The award is supported with partial co-funding by the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering at NSF. The PIs are designing new chemical oscillators using commercially available enzymes and substrates and are using these systems for pattern engineering. The studies employ both experimental and computational techniques. They are also doing research to construct the first pH oscillators that will operate under batch conditions. This research is being carried out in collaboration with investigators in Hungary. The expectation is that these reactions might be useful in the development of drug delivery systems and molecular motors or sensors. A collaborative study involving scientists in the United Kingdom in which magnetic resonance imaging will be used to explore three-dimensional patterns in a reaction diffusion micro-emulsion system (the BZ-AOT system) developed in the PI's laboratory. The study will, in addition, probe the effects of coupling between patterns in different layers in several oscillating chemical reactions. Finally, the PIs are studying the effects on pattern formation of cross-diffusion, a phenomenon in which the movement of one species through space is influenced by gradients in the concentrations of other species. The latter study involves a collaboration with scientists in Italy in which experiments using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility will be used to investigate and compare the detailed structures in the BZ-AOT system with a phospholipid system. The work is having a broad impact on our understanding of pattern formation in chemical systems and a further broad impact through the involvement of students in international research.