Ab initio many-body calculations on infinite carbon and boron-nitrogen chains

In this paper we report first-principles calculations on the ground-state electronic structure of two infinite one-dimensional systems: (a) a chain of carbon atoms and (b) a chain of alternating boron and nitrogen atoms. Meanfield results were obtained using the restricted Hartree-Fock approach, while the many-body effects were taken into account by second-order M{\o}ller-Plesset perturbation theory and the coupled-cluster approach. The calculations were performed using 6-31$G^{**}$ basis sets, including the d-type polarization functions. Both at the Hartree-Fock (HF) and the correlated levels we find that the infinite carbon chain exhibits bond alternation with alternating single and triple bonds, while the boron-nitrogen chain exhibits equidistant bonds. In addition, we also performed density-functional-theory-based local density approximation (LDA) calculations on the infinite carbon chain using the same basis set. Our LDA results, in contradiction to our HF and correlated results, predict a very small bond alternation. Based upon our LDA results for the carbon chain, which are in agreement with an earlier LDA calculation calculation [ E.J. Bylaska, J.H. Weare, and R. Kawai, Phys. Rev. B 58, R7488 (1998).], we conclude that the LDA significantly underestimates Peierls distortion. This emphasizes that the inclusion of many-particle effects is very important for the correct description of Peierls distortion in one-dimensional systems.Comment: 3 figures (included). To appear in Phys. Rev.

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

Given the increasingly global stresses on forests, many ecologists argue that managers must maintain ecological resilience: the capacity of ecosystems to absorb disturbances without undergoing fundamental change. In this review we ask: Can the emerging paradigm of natural-disturbance-based management (NDBM) maintain ecological resilience in managed forests? Applying resilience theory requires careful articulation of the ecosystem state under consideration, the disturbances and stresses that affect the persistence of possible alternative states, and the spatial and temporal scales of management relevance. Implementing NDBM while maintaining resilience means recognizing that (i) biodiversity is important for long-term ecosystem persistence, (ii) natural disturbances play a critical role as a generator of structural and compositional heterogeneity at multiple scales, and (iii) traditional management tends to produce forests more homogeneous than those disturbed naturally and increases the likelihood of unexpected catastrophic change by constraining variation of key environmental processes. NDBM may maintain resilience if silvicultural strategies retain the structures and processes that perpetuate desired states while reducing those that enhance resilience of undesirable states. Such strategies require an understanding of harvesting impacts on slow ecosystem processes, such as seed-bank or nutrient dynamics, which in the long term can lead to ecological surprises by altering the forest's capacity to reorganize after disturbance

F-Element ion chelation in highly basic media. 1998 annual progress report

'A large percentage of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) produced in the DOE complex over the last thirty years temporarily resides in storage tanks maintained at highly basic pH. The final permanent waste remediation plan will probably require that liquid and solid fractions be chemically treated in order to partition and concentrate the dominate hazardous emitters from the bulk of the waste. This is no small task. Indeed, there does not exist a well developed molecular chemistry knowledge base to guide the development of suitable separations for actinide and fission products present in the strongly basic media. The goal of this project is to undertake fundamental studies of the coordination chemistry of f-element ions and their species formed in basic aqueous solutions containing common waste treatment ions (e.g., NO{sub 3}{sup -}, CO{sub 3}{sup 2-}, organic carboxylates, and EDTA), as well as new waste scrubbing chelators produced in this study.

Various aspects of the chemistry of new pyridine phosphonates that are of specific interest to separations chemistry issues at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Final report, November 1992--September 1994

The authors have used newly derived synthetic approaches to form several pyridine N-oxide phosphonates; they have fully characterized these new species; they have studied their coordination chemistry toward several lanthanide and actinide ions; and they have initiated solvent extraction studies of two ligands. The results for most of this work are described in three manuscripts that have been submitted or soon will be submitted for publication. In addition to that work the authors have also embarked on a major effort to survey the utility of computer assisted molecular modeling for the design of new chelating ligands for actinide ions. Finally, during this period the authors began to prepare large samples of selected ligands that will be used in future collaborative studies of extraction properties. It is expected that several of the new ligands will have superior extraction properties compared to existing chelate systems

f-Element Ion Chelation in Highly Basic Media - Final Report

A large body of data has been collected over the last fifty years on the chemical behavior of f-element ions. The ions undergo rapid hydrolysis reactions in neutral or basic aqueous solutions that produce poorly understood oxide-hydroxide species; therefore, most of the fundamental f-element solution chemistry has allowed synthetic and separations chemists to rationally design advanced organic chelating ligands useful for highly selective partitioning and separation of f-element ions from complex acidic solution matrices. These ligands and new examples under development allow for the safe use and treatment of solutions containing highly radioactive species. This DOE/EMSP project was undertaken to address the following fundamental objectives: (1) study the chemical speciation of Sr and lanthanide (Ln) ions in basic aqueous media containing classical counter anions found in waste matrices; (2) prepare pyridine N-oxide phosphonates and phosphonic acids that might act as selective chelator s for Ln ions in model basic pH waste streams; (3) study the binding of the new chelators toward Ln ions and (4) examine the utility of the chelators as decontamination and dissolution agents under basic solution conditions. The project has been successful in attacking selected aspects of the very difficult problems associated with basic pH solution f-element waste chemistry. In particular, the project has (1) shed additional light on the initial stages of Ln ion sol-gel-precipitate formulation under basic solution conditions; (2) generated new families of pyridine phosphonic acid chelators; (3) characterized the function of the chelators and (4) examined their utility as oxide-hydroxide dissolution agents. These findings have contributed significantly to an improved understanding of the behavior of Ln ions in basic media containing anions found in typical waste sludges as well as to the development of sludge dissolution agents. The new chelating reagents are easily made and could be prepared in quantities suitable for large scale decontamination and dissolution processes involving sludges. Further studies will be required to assess specific performance in actinide ion bearing wastes

Architectural design criteria for f-block metal sequestering agents. 1997 annual progress report

'The objective of this project is to provide the means to optimize ligand architecture for f-block metal recognition. The authors strategy builds on an innovative and successful molecular modeling approach in developing polyether ligand design criteria for the alkali and alkaline earth cations. The hypothesis underlying this proposal is that differences in metal ion binding with multidentate ligands bearing the same number and type of donor groups are primarily attributable to intramolecular steric factors. The authors propose quantifying these steric factors through the application of molecular mechanics models. The proposed research involves close integration of theoretical and experimental chemistry. The experimental work entails synthesizing novel ligands and experimentally determining structures and binding constants for metal ion complexation by series of ligands in which architecture is systematically varied. The theoretical work entails using electronic structure calculations to parameterize a molecular mechanics force field for a range of metal ions and ligand types. The resulting molecular mechanics force field will be used to predict low-energy structures for unidentate, bidentate, and multidentate ligands and their metal complexes through conformational searches. Results will be analyzed to assess the relative importance of several steric factors including optimal M-L length, optimal geometry at the metal center, optimal geometry at the donor atoms (complementarity), and conformation prior to binding (preorganization). An accurate set of criteria for the design of ligand architecture will be obtained from these results. These criteria will enable researchers to target ligand structures for synthesis and thereby dramatically reduce the time and cost associated with metal-specific ligand development.