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We have analyzed the chemical bonding and reactivity in the cubic molecule octahydridosilsesquioxane, Si8H8O12, and its counterpart Ge8H8O12 by means of ab initio quantum chemical methods and group theory. Density functional theory and MP2 methods combined with the basis sets 6-311+G(d) and 6-311++G(2d,p) were used for geometry optimization and vibrational frequency analysis. The geometries of Si8H8O12 and Ge8H8O12 are unstable under Oh symmetry and distort to the rare Th molecular symmetry. The energy gained from this pseudo-Jahn–Teller distortion ranges from 0.78 to 6.14 kcal mol−1 depending on methodological treatment. The Fukui functions and the molecular electrostatic potential were both used as DFT-based reactivity descriptors. Our study shows that Si8H8O12 and Ge8H8O12 are both hard amphoteric molecules. The cavity within each cage is acidic and able to encapsulate hard small bases such as F−. The exterior of the cages is basic and can form stable exohedral complexes with hard acids, as in the case of H+. The insertion of F− in Si8H8O12 and Ge8H8O12 cages gives the most stable endohedral complexes of the series studied, characterized by formation energies of −3.50 and −3.45 eV at CAM-B3LYP/6-311+G(d) and −3.61 and −3.68 eV at the MP2/6-311++G(d,p) level, respectively. The calculated formation energies of the exohedral and endohedral complexes align with the DFT reactivity descriptor analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polarized-ion models—with and without dipole reaction fields and charge-quadrupole interaction—are evaluated in calculating atomization energies, bond angles, and bending force constants of groups 2 and 12 dihalides. A study of the sensitivity to changes in the input parameters reveals a strong dependence on dipole polarizabilities. The charge–quadrupole bending terms of a multipole expansion are important for quasi-linear molecules, where the preceding terms in the expansion tend to cancel each other. They normally stabilize the linear geometry, but enhance bent structures, if a certain criterion for the ratio of quadrupole polarizabilities of metal and halide ions is fulfilled. The models explain the bent alkaline earth halides, but fail spectacularly for the group 12 halides—HgBr[sub 2] and HgI[sub 2] are even calculated as unstable relative to the constituent atoms. The unexpected weakness of ionic bonds is related to the large increase of the ionization energies by relativistic effects and the lanthanide contraction. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the validity of employing a potential dependent polarizability in a model to determine atom in molecule (AIM) polarizabilities. It is found that the assumption of an electric potential dependent polarizability leads to a contravention of the principle of conservation of energy. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]