Transition scenarios during the evolution of Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction in an unstirred batch reactor

We report experimental evidence of transition scenarios during the chemical evolution in an unstirred closed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) system. We demonstrate that during its chemical evolution the system spontaneously gives the following sequence of dynamic behavior before reaching equilibrium: period-1 → quasiperiodicity → chaos → quasiperiodicity → period-1. Two transition scenarios are observed: at the onset of chaos and at its end. One appears as the mirror image of the other. Our observations support the view that closed chemical systems also are able to show chaotic behavior and the corresponding transition scenarios.