Gas Evolution Oscillators. 1. Some New Experimental Examples

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja00347a010

We report for the first time that malic, oxalic, tartaric, citric, and malonic acids decompose in concentrated sulfuric acid with oscillatory evolution of oxides of carbon.We also report oscillatory gas evolution during the reactions of aqueous nitrous acid with both ammonium ion and urea.Some other gas evolution reactions did not exhibit oscillatory behavior in our hands, but oscillatory gas evolution is obviously a more common phenomenon than has previously been appreciated.