diff --git a/src/madness/world/worldgop.h b/src/madness/world/worldgop.h
index 34817a755c5..f1acc7b1452 100644
--- a/src/madness/world/worldgop.h
+++ b/src/madness/world/worldgop.h
@@ -783,30 +783,71 @@ namespace madness {
             void reduce(T* buf, std::size_t nelem, opT op) {
           ProcessID parent, child0, child1;
           world_.mpi.binary_tree_info(0, parent, child0, child1);
-          const std::size_t nelem_per_maxmsg = max_reducebcast_msg_size() / sizeof(T);
-
-          auto buf0 = std::unique_ptr<T[]>(new T[nelem_per_maxmsg]);
-          auto buf1 = std::unique_ptr<T[]>(new T[nelem_per_maxmsg]);
+          const std::size_t nelem_per_maxmsg =
+              max_reducebcast_msg_size() / sizeof(T);
+
+          const auto buf_size = ((sizeof(T) * std::min(nelem_per_maxmsg, nelem) +
+                                 std::alignment_of_v<T> - 1) /
+                                std::alignment_of_v<T>) * std::alignment_of_v<T>;
+          struct free_dtor {
+            void operator()(T *ptr) {
+              if (ptr != nullptr)
+                std::free(ptr);
+            };
+          };
+          using sptr_t = std::unique_ptr<T[], free_dtor>;
+
+          sptr_t buf0;
+          auto aligned_buf_alloc = [&]() -> T* {
+            // posix_memalign requires alignment to be an integer multiple of sizeof(void*)!! so ensure that
+            const std::size_t alignment =
+                ((std::alignment_of_v<T> + sizeof(void *) - 1) /
+                 sizeof(void *)) *
+                sizeof(void *);
+#ifdef HAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN
+            void *ptr;
+            if (posix_memalign(&ptr, alignment, buf_size) != 0) {
+              throw std::bad_alloc();
+            }
+            return static_cast<T *>(ptr);
+#else
+            return static_cast<T*>(std::aligned_alloc(alignment, buf_size));
+#endif
+          };
+          if (child0 != -1)
+            buf0 = sptr_t(aligned_buf_alloc(),
+                          free_dtor{});
+          sptr_t buf1(nullptr);
+          if (child1 != -1)
+            buf1 = sptr_t(aligned_buf_alloc(),
+                          free_dtor{});
 
           auto reduce_impl = [&,this](T* buf, size_t nelem) {
             MADNESS_ASSERT(nelem <= nelem_per_maxmsg);
             SafeMPI::Request req0, req1;
             Tag gsum_tag = world_.mpi.unique_tag();
 
-            if (child0 != -1) req0 = world_.mpi.Irecv(buf0.get(), nelem*sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE, child0, gsum_tag);
-            if (child1 != -1) req1 = world_.mpi.Irecv(buf1.get(), nelem*sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE, child1, gsum_tag);
+            if (child0 != -1)
+              req0 = world_.mpi.Irecv(buf0.get(), nelem * sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE,
+                                      child0, gsum_tag);
+            if (child1 != -1)
+              req1 = world_.mpi.Irecv(buf1.get(), nelem * sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE,
+                                      child1, gsum_tag);
 
             if (child0 != -1) {
               World::await(req0);
-              for (long i=0; i<(long)nelem; ++i) buf[i] = op(buf[i],buf0[i]);
+              for (long i = 0; i < (long)nelem; ++i)
+                buf[i] = op(buf[i], buf0[i]);
             }
             if (child1 != -1) {
               World::await(req1);
-              for (long i=0; i<(long)nelem; ++i) buf[i] = op(buf[i],buf1[i]);
+              for (long i = 0; i < (long)nelem; ++i)
+                buf[i] = op(buf[i], buf1[i]);
             }
 
             if (parent != -1) {
-              req0 = world_.mpi.Isend(buf, nelem*sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE, parent, gsum_tag);
+              req0 = world_.mpi.Isend(buf, nelem * sizeof(T), MPI_BYTE, parent,
+                                      gsum_tag);
               World::await(req0);
             }
 
@@ -903,7 +944,7 @@ namespace madness {
         /// Concatenate an STL vector of serializable stuff onto node 0
 
         /// \param[in] v input vector
-        /// \param[in] bufsz the max of the result' must be less than std::numeric_limits<int>::max()
+        /// \param[in] bufsz the max number of bytes in the result; must be less than std::numeric_limits<int>::max()
         /// \return on rank 0 returns the concatenated vector, elsewhere returns an empty vector
         template <typename T>
         std::vector<T> concat0(const std::vector<T>& v, size_t bufsz=1024*1024) {
@@ -913,10 +954,28 @@ namespace madness {
             world_.mpi.binary_tree_info(0, parent, child0, child1);
             int child0_nbatch = 0, child1_nbatch = 0;
 
-            auto buf0 = std::unique_ptr<std::byte[]>(new std::byte[bufsz]);
-            auto buf1 = std::unique_ptr<std::byte[]>(new std::byte[bufsz]);
+            struct free_dtor {
+              void operator()(std::byte *ptr) {
+                if (ptr != nullptr)
+                  std::free(ptr);
+              };
+            };
+            using sptr_t = std::unique_ptr<std::byte[], free_dtor>;
+
+            sptr_t buf0;
+            if (child0 != -1)
+              buf0 = sptr_t(static_cast<std::byte *>(std::aligned_alloc(
+                                std::alignment_of_v<T>, bufsz)),
+                            free_dtor{});
+            sptr_t buf1;
+            if (child1 != -1)
+              buf1 = sptr_t(static_cast<std::byte *>(std::aligned_alloc(
+                                std::alignment_of_v<T>, bufsz)),
+                            free_dtor{});
+
             // transfer data in chunks at most this large
-            const int batch_size = static_cast<int>(std::min(static_cast<size_t>(max_reducebcast_msg_size()),bufsz));
+            const int batch_size = static_cast<int>(
+                std::min(static_cast<size_t>(max_reducebcast_msg_size()),bufsz));
 
             // precompute max # of tags any node ... will need, and allocate them on every node to avoid tag counter divergence
             const int max_nbatch = bufsz / batch_size;