Designing 3-D molecular stars

The potential energy surfaces of the [Si.sub.5][Li.sub.n.sup.5-6] (n = 5?7) systems were explored in detail to find feasible way to design three-dimensional star-like silicon structures using the appropriate ligands. The calculation results revealed that the important contribution of ionic character of the Si-Li interactions to induce the formation of a bridged structure and the contribution of reduction of the Pauli repulsion and the maximization of the orbital towards formation of star-like structure.