Dissipative structures of autocatalytic reactions with initially uniform concentrations are studied in tubular flow reactors. A unique steady state exists in a continuous stirred tank reactor. Linear stability analysis predicts either a stable node, a focus or an unstable saddle-focus. Sustained oscillations around the unstable focus can occur for high values of Damko¨hler number. In distributed parameter systems, travelling, standing or complex oscillatory waves are detected. For low values of Damko¨hler number, travelling waves with pseudo-constant patterns are observed. With intermediate values of Damko¨hler number, single or multiple standing waves are obtained. The temporal behavior indicates also the appearance of retriggering or echo waves. For high values of Damko¨hler number, both sing1e peak and complex multipeak oscillations are found. In the cell model, both regular oscillations near the inlet and chaoric behavior downstream are observed. In the dispersion model, higher Peclet numbers eliminate the oscillations. The spatial profile shows a train of pulsating waves for the discret model and a single pulsating or solitary wave for the continuous model.