CO and CO
2 evolution was measured in a cerium and in a ferroin-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ)reaction. These gases were stripped from the reaction mixture by a N
2 carrier gas, mixed with H
2, convertedto methane on a Ni catalyst, and then measured by a flame ionization detector (FID). CO could be detectedseparately by absorbing CO
2 on a soda lime column. In separate experiments it was proven that CO is producedin a reaction of BrO
2![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
radicals with bromomalonic acid (BrMA). To this end BrO
2![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
radicals were generatedin two different ways: (i) in the reaction HBrO
2 + HBrO
3 ![](/images/entities/harr.gif)
2 BrO
2![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
+ H
2O and (ii) by reducing HBrO
3 toBrO
2![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
by Fe
2+. It was found that
![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
OH radicals - produced by Fenton's reagent - can also generate CO fromBrMA. We propose that CO can be formed when an inorganic radical (like BrO
2![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
or
![](/images/entities/bull.gif)
OH) reacts with theenol form of BrMA producing an acyl radical which decarbonylates in the next step. Malonic acid (MA)-BrMA mixtures were prepared by a new method modifying Zaikin and Zhabotinsky's original recipe tominimize the production of dibromomalonic acid (Br
2MA).