Chemically-operated turing machine

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a Turing machine having a reactor comprising a reactant solution comprising a reactant; a first chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a first chemical species; a second chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a second chemical species; one or more controllers coupled to control the addition of the first and second chemical species from the first and second chemical species sources responsive to an input; and a sensor positioned to sense changes in the reactant as the controller controls the first and second chemical species sources to add selected amounts of the respective first and second chemical species to the reactor. The controller receives signals corresponding to the state of the reactant and correlates the states of the reactant to a result that is computed as a function of the input.

1 . A Turing machine based on an oscillatory chemical reaction comprising:
 a reactor comprising a reactant solution comprising a reactant;   a first chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a first chemical species;   a second chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a second chemical species;   one or more controllers coupled to control the addition of the first and second chemical species from the first and second chemical species sources responsive to an input; and   one or more sensors positioned to sense changes in the reactant as the controller controls the first and second chemical species sources to add selected amounts of the respective first and second chemical species to the reactor,   wherein the controller receives signals corresponding to the state of the reactant and correlates the states of the reactant to a result that is computed as a function of the input.   
     
     
         2 . The Turing machine according to  claim 1 , further comprising a tape to provide the input to the controller. 
     
     
         3 . The Turing machine of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises a redox sensor, a pH sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a UV-Vis sensor or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The Turing machine of  claim 1 , wherein the first chemical species comprises an oxidizing agent and the second chemical species comprises a reducing agent. 
     
     
         5 . The Turing machine according to  claim 4 , wherein the oxidizing agent comprises bromate ions. 
     
     
         6 . The Turing machine according to  claim 4 , wherein the reducing agent comprises malonic acid. 
     
     
         7 . The Turing machine  claim 1 , wherein the reactor is a continuously stirred tank reactor. 
     
     
         8 . The Turing machine  claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a spectrometer adapted to periodically detect color changes in the reactant solution. 
     
     
         9 . The Turing machine  claim 1 , wherein the first chemical species source and/or the second chemical species source comprise burettes or syringe pumps. 
     
     
         10 . The Turing machine  claim 1 , wherein the reactant comprises a compound capable of attaining meta stable states or an oscillatory regime. 
     
     
         11 . The Turing machine  claim 1 , wherein the reactant comprises a transition metal complex. 
     
     
         12 . The Turing machine according to  claim 11 , wherein the the transition metal complex is a ruthenium complex, a cerium complex, an iron complex or a cobalt complex. 
     
     
         13 . The Turing machine according to  claim 12 , wherein the ruthenium complex is a tris(bipyridine)ruthenium (II) complex. 
     
     
         14 . The Turing machine of  claim 1 , wherein the input comprises a parenthesis. 
     
     
         15 . The Turing machine of  claim 1 , wherein said Turing machine is a parenthesis checker. 
     
     
         16 . A central processing unit of a programmable chemical computer comprising one or more Turing Machines of  claim 1  or appropriate variants thereof. 
     
     
         17 . A programmable chemical computer comprising a central processing unit which comprises one or more Turing Machines of  claim 1  or appropriate variants thereof. 
     
     
         18 . A method of operating a chemical Turing machine based on an oscillatory chemical reaction comprising:
 providing a reactor comprising a reactant solution comprising a reactant;   providing an input to a controller, coupled to control the addition of a first and a second chemical species from a first chemical species source and a second chemical species source, responsive to the input; and   sensing changes in the reactor as the controller controls the first and second chemical species sources to add selected amounts of the respective first and second chemical species to the reactor, wherein the controller receives signals corresponding to the states of the reactant; and   correlating the states of the reactant to a result that is computed as a function of the input.