Stabilizing influence of silicon substitution on dibenzene and its isomers

Abstract

The stabilizing effect of silicon substitution on sixteen different isomers of dibenzene (C12H12) has been investigated using second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) theory and the cc-pVDZ basis set. While the most stable isomers of Si12H12 have only Si–Si bonds, some of the stable isomers have isolated Si=Si bonds and may be amenable to experimental observation. Vibrational frequencies were calculated for the optimized geometries at the Hartree-Fock level of theory to ensure that they corresponded to true minima on the potential energy landscape. Natural bonding orbital analysis confirms the existence of isolated Si=Si double bonds in some of the isomers. Dipole moment values were determined to check for the presence of centre of symmetry in certain geometries.