Preparative isolation of (+)-beta-eudesmol fromAmyris balsamifera

Summary Optically pure (+)-beta-eudesmol is a possible starting material for the synthesis of several termite defense compounds. A two step procedure for the isolation of gram quantities of (+)-beta-eudesmol from commercially availableAmyris balsamifera oil (syn. West Indian sandalwood oil), containing 8% beta-eudesmol, was developed. Step one consisted of an efficient vacuum distillation of the total oil. Step two was a medium pressure LC separation with an AgNO₃ impregnated silica gel stationary phase. Several other separation procedures failed due to the presence of many closely related sesquiterpene alcohols (75% of the oil).     

Parametric two-electron reduced-density-matrix method applied to computing molecular energies and properties at nonequilibrium geometries

A parametric approach to the variational calculation of the two-electron reduced density matrix (2-RDM) for many-electron atoms and molecules has recently been developed in which the 2-RDM is parametrized to be both size consistent and nearly N-representable [C. Kollmar, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 084108 (2006); A. E. DePrince and D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. A 76, 049903 (2007)]. The parametric variational 2-RDM method is applied to computing ground-state molecular energies and properties at nonequilibrium geometries in significantly larger basis sets than previously employed. We study hydrogen abstraction from the hydroxide groups of H(2)O, NH(3)OH, and CH(3)OH. The 2-RDM method, parametrized by single and double excitations, shows significant improvement over coupled-cluster methods with similar excitations in predicting the shape of potential energy curves and bond-dissociation energies. Previous work completes the parametrization of the energy and 2-RDM by a system of n(2)h(2) normalization constraints, where n and h are the number of occupied and unoccupied orbitals, respectively. In the present paper, however, we show that the constraints can be eliminated by incorporating them into the energy and 2-RDM functions and, hence, the constrained optimization of the ground-state energy can be reformulated as an unconstrained optimization. The 2-RDMs from the parametric method are very nearly N-representable, and as measured by an l(2) norm, they are more accurate than the 2-RDMs from configuration interaction truncated at single and double excitations by an order of magnitude.     

Testing the parametric two-electron reduced-density-matrix method with improved functionals: application to the conversion of hydrogen peroxide to oxywater

Parametrization of the two-electron reduced density matrix (2-RDM) has recently enabled the direct calculation of electronic energies and 2-RDMs at the computational cost of configuration interaction with single and double excitations. While the original Kollmar energy functional yields energies slightly better than those from coupled cluster with single-double excitations, a general family of energy functionals has recently been developed whose energies approach those from coupled cluster with triple excitations [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 253002 (2008)]. In this paper we test the parametric 2-RDM method with one of these improved functionals through its application to the conversion of hydrogen peroxide to oxywater. Previous work has predicted the barrier from oxywater to hydrogen peroxide with zero-point energy correction to be 3.3-to-3.9 kcal/mol from coupled cluster with perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] and -2.3 kcal/mol from complete active-space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) in augmented polarized triple-zeta basis sets. Using a larger basis set than previously employed for this reaction-an augmented polarized quadruple-zeta basis set (aug-cc-pVQZ)-with extrapolation to the complete basis-set limit, we examined the barrier with two parametric 2-RDM methods and three coupled cluster methods. In the basis-set limit the M parametric 2-RDM method predicts an activation energy of 2.1 kcal/mol while the CCSD(T) barrier becomes 4.2 kcal/mol. The dissociation energy of hydrogen peroxide to hydroxyl radicals is also compared to the activation energy for oxywater formation. We report energies, optimal geometries, dipole moments, and natural occupation numbers. Computed 2-RDMs nearly satisfy necessary N-representability conditions.     

Emergence of excited-state plasmon modes in linear hydrogen chains from time-dependent quantum mechanical methods

Explicitly time-dependent configuration-interaction theory is used to predict a new type of plasmonic behavior in linear hydrogen chains. After an intense ultrashort laser pulse brings the system into a broad superposition of excited states, the electronic dipole of the entire chain oscillates coherently, and the system is predicted to emit radiation at energies significantly lower than the first absorption band. A simple classical model accurately predicts the energy of this plasmon resonance for different hydrogen chain lengths and electron densities, demonstrating that collective, free-electron-like behavior can arise in chains of as few as 20 hydrogen atoms. The excitation mechanism for this plasmonic resonance is a highly nonlinear, multiphoton process, different from the linear excitation of ordinary surface plasmons.     

Investigations into beam monitors at the AEg ̄ IS experiment

Detailed diagnostic of antiproton beams at low energies is required for essentially all experiments at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD), but will be particularly important for the future Extra Low ENergy Antiproton ring (ELENA) and its keV beam lines to the different experiments. Many monitors have been successfully developed and operated at the AD, but in particular beam profile monitoring remains a challenge. A dedicated beam instrumentation and detector test stand has recently been setup at the AE \(\bar {g}\) IS experiment (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy). Located behind the actual experiment, it allows for parasitic use of the antiproton beam at different energies for testing and calibration. With the aim to explore and validate different candidate technologies for future low energy beam lines, as well as the downstream antihydrogen detector in AE \(\bar {g}\) IS, measurements have been carried out using Silicon strip and pixel detectors, a purpose-built secondary emission monitor and emulsions. Here, results from measurements and characterization of the different detector types with regard to their future use at the AD complex are presented.     

Cumulant reconstruction of the three-electron reduced density matrix in the anti-Hermitian contracted Schrödinger equation

Differing perspectives on the accuracy of three-electron reduced-density-matrix (3-RDM) reconstruction in nonminimal basis sets exist in the literature. This paper demonstrates the accuracy of cumulant-based reconstructions, developed by Valdemoro (V) [F. Colmenero et al., Phys. Rev. A 47, 971 (1993)], Nakatsuji and Yasuda (NY) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1039 (1996)], Mazziotti (M) [Phys. Rev. A 60, 3618 (1999)], and Valdemoro-Tel-Perez-Romero (VTP) [Many-electron Densities and Density Matrices, edited by J. Cioslowski (Kluwer, Boston, 2000)]. Computationally, we extend previous investigations to study a variety of molecules, including LiH, HF, NH(3), H(2)O, and N(2), in Slater-type, double-zeta, and polarized double-zeta basis sets at both equilibrium and nonequilibrium geometries. The reconstructed 3-RDMs, compared with 3-RDMs from full configuration interaction, demonstrate in nonminimal basis sets the accuracy of the first-order expansion (V) as well as the important role of the second-order corrections (NY, M, and VTP). Calculations at nonequilibrium geometries further show that cumulant functionals can reconstruct the 3-RDM from a multireferenced 2-RDM with reasonable accuracy, which is relevant to recent multireferenced formulations of the anti-Hermitian contracted Schrodinger equation (ACSE) and canonical diagonalization. Theoretically, we perform a detailed perturbative analysis of the M functional to identify its second-order components. With these second-order components we connect the M, NY, and VTP reconstructions for the first time by deriving both the NY and VTP functionals from the M functional. Finally, these 3-RDM reconstructions are employed within the ACSE [D. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 143002 (2006)] to compute ground-state energies which are compared with the energies from the contracted Schrodinger equation and several wave function methods.