SSTs, nitrogen fertilizer and stratospheric ozone

Beyond xeroderma pigmentosum: DNA damage and repair in an ecological context. A tribute to James E. Cleaver

The ability to repair DNA is a ubiquitous characteristic of life on Earth and all organisms possess similar mechanisms for dealing with DNA damage, an indication of a very early evolutionary origin for repair processes. James E. Cleaver's career (initiated in the early 1960s) has been devoted to the study of mammalian ultraviolet radiation (UVR) photobiology, specifically the molecular genetics of xeroderma pigmentosum and other human diseases caused by defects in DNA damage recognition and repair. This work by Jim and others has influenced the study of DNA damage and repair in a variety of taxa. Today, the field of DNA repair is enhancing our understanding of not only how to treat and prevent human disease, but is providing insights on the evolutionary history of life on Earth and how natural populations are coping with UVR-induced DNA damage from anthropogenic changes in the environment such as ozone depletion.

Computational study of the kinetics and mechanisms for the HCO + O3 reaction

The mechanisms of radical-molecule reactions between HCO (formyl radical) and O3 (ozone) have been investigated by using BH&HLYP and QCISD methods with the 6-311++G(3df,2p) basis set. The energetics have been refined with CCSD(T) and QCISD(T) theoretical approaches with the same basis set based on the geometries calculated at the QCISD method. The intermediates of hydrogen-bonded complexes and the critical transition states are also examined with the multireference methods. Two possible reaction pathways containing hydrogen-abstraction and association-elimination processes for the interaction of HCO with O3 are proposed. Both reaction mechanisms can occur via the prereactive hydrogen-bonded complex, O3-HCO, with 2.45 kcal/mol stability at the CCSD(T) approach with respect to the reactants; even so, the hydrogen-abstraction mechanism exhibits a lower energy barrier. The rate constants for both processes are also predicted. The total rate constant at 298 K is calculated to be in close agreement with the experimental value of 8.3 × 10(-13) cm(3) molecule(-1) s(-1).