Abstract. In this paper we consider the one-dimensional Navier-Stokes system for a heat-conducting, compressible reacting mixture which describes the dynamic combustion of fluids of mixed kinds on unbounded domains. This model has been discussed on bounded domains by Chen (SIAM J Math Anal 23:609-634, 1992) and Chen-Hoff-Trivisa (Arch Ration Mech Anal 166:321-358, 2003), among others, in which the reaction rate function is a discontinuous function obeying the Arrhenius' law of thermodynamics. We prove the global existence of weak solutions to this model on one-dimensional unbounded domains with large initial data in H 1 . Moreover, the large-time behaviour of the weak solution is identified. In particular, the uniform-in-time bounds for the temperature and specific volume have been established via energy estimates. For this purpose we utilise techniques developed by Kazhikhov-Shelukhin (cf. Kazhikhov in Siber Math J 23:44-49, 1982; Solonnikov and Kazhikhov in Annu Rev Fluid Mech 13:79-95, 1981) and refined by Jiang (Commun Math Phys 200:181-193, 1999, Proc R Soc Edinb Sect A 132:627-638, 2002, as well as a crucial estimate in the recent work by Li-Liang (Arch Ration Mech Anal 220:1195-1208. Several new estimates are also established, in order to treat the unbounded domain and the reacting terms.Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 35Q30, 35Q35, 35Q79; Secondary 76N10, 76N15.