Oscillations Produced From Acidity Hydrolysis of Triglyceride in Emulsion

A new type of oscillating reaction was found from the systematic design of the chemical oscillator in water in oil (W/O) emulsions. It is an acidity hydrolysis reaction of long chain triglyceride in W/O emulsion at 25.0 ± 0.1°C in a bath stirring reactor. During the process of reaction, there were periodic and semi-periodic changes lasting more than 10 hours both in electrolytic conductivity and electric potential. Microscope also revealed that the emulsion structure changed regularly and quickly. Because of the large difference in the solubility of the hydrolyzed products, it could be thought, that the different redistribution in the two phases of water and oil induces the regular changes. Marangoni effect of interface membrane made oscillation to form. The oscillating reaction can be used to explain the periodic change in the living system produced from coupling between reaction and diffusion.