Influence of Micellar Propinquity on Dynamics of Ce(IV)‐Catalyzed BZ Oscillatory Reaction under Stirred Conditions

Abstract

Oscillating reactions often employed to mimic and understand complex dynamics in biological systems are known to be affected in aggregated host environments. The dynamic evolution of the oscillatory Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction upon addition of increasing amounts of anionic (sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate; SDBS), cationic (hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide; CTAB), nonionic (polyoxyethylene(20) cetyl ether; Brij58), and binary mixtures (CTAB + Brij58 and SDBS + Brij58) of surfactants was monitored using potentiometry at 25 and 35°C under stirred batch conditions. The experimental results reveal that the oscillatory parameters of the Ce(IV)‐catalyzed BZ reaction are significantly altered depending on the concentration and nature of restricted micellar host environments. In the presence of ionic surfactants, it is proposed that the evolution of the oscillatory BZ system may be due to atypical proficiency (related to hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions) of such organized self‐assemblies to affect the reactivity by selectively confiscating some key reacting species. However, the response of the BZ system to nonionic Brij58 was attributed to the reaction among the alcoholic functional groups of the surfactant with some vital species of the BZ reaction. Moreover, the nonionic + ionic binary surfactant systems exhibited behaviors representative of both the constitutive single surfactant systems.