Compartmentalized reaction-diffusion systems

Reaction-diffusion systems consisting of a collection of reactive domains separated by chemically inactive regions are considered. The reactive dynamics is governed by a multistep reaction mechanism and each reactive domain is specific to a particular elementary step or collection of elementary steps of the global reaction mechanism. Far-from-equilibrium situations where the global kinetics can give rise to complex states such as bistability or oscillations are studied. A general method for the calculation of the average concentration on each reactive domain is presented. The effects of compartmentalization are illustrated by a study of the influence of diffusion, reactive domain size, and domain distribution on the nature of the stationary states of the Schlögl model. Compartmentalization can drive the system into and out of the bistable regime of this reactive system.