Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics

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Irving Epstein of Brandeis University is supported by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program for experimental and theoretical investigations in nonlinear chemical dynamics aimed at creating and understanding new systems and structures and exploring new mechanisms involving pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems. One system to be studied is the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction in emulsions consisting of aqueous droplets containing the BZ reactants surrounded by a monolayer of surfactant and suspended in oil. Experiments will be performed with droplets ranging in size from 10 nanometers to 300 micrometers. By studying patterns in one, two and three spatial dimensions, Epstein and his student and postdoctoral collaborators seek to develop novel devices such as a "chemical cellular automaton" and a configuration capable of "learning" frequencies. Experiments on these systems will be linked to numerical simulations with realistic but relatively simple mathematical models. The phenomena to be investigated here have potential applications to medicine, catalysis, materials science and information processing. Oscillating reactions and patterns formation have an aesthetic appeal that makes them ideal for lecture demonstrations and presentations that attract students into chemistry. Undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows participating in this research have the opportunity to work in collaborating laboratories in Hungary and Poland. Professor Epstein has been active in presenting nonlinear chemical dynamics to a wide range of scientific and lay audiences and in sharing his scientific expertise with groups as diverse as elementary school students, judges, members of Congress, and university boards of trustees. He is currently directing a project, the "Science Posse", a new approach to increasing the recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities and economically disadvantaged students in the sciences.