  We study model one-dimensional chemical systems (representative of their
three-dimensional counterparts) using the strictly-correlated electrons (SCE)
functional, which, by construction, becomes asymptotically exact in the limit
of infinite coupling strength. The SCE functional has a highly non-local
dependence on the density and is able to capture strong correlation within
Kohn- Sham theory without introducing any symmetry breaking. Chemical systems,
however, are not close enough to the strong-interaction limit so that, while
ionization energies and the stretched H2 molecule are accurately described,
total energies are in general way too low. A correction based on the exact next
leading order in the expansion at infinite coupling strength of the
Hohenberg-Kohn functional largely improves the results.
