Structures, Energetics, and Aromaticities of the Tetrasilacyclobutadiene Dianion and Related Compounds: (Si4H4)2–, (Si4H4)2–·2Li+, [Si4(SiH3)4]2–·2Li+, [Si4(SiH3)4]2–·2Na+, and [Si4(SiH3)4]2–·2K+

Abstract

In light of the important recent synthesis of a stable tetrasilacyclobutadiene dianion compound by Sekiguchi and co-workers and the absence of theoretical studies, ab initio methods have been used to investigate this dianion and a number of related species. These theoretical methods predict multiple minima for each compound, and most minima contain folded and bicyclic silicon rings. For (Si(4)H(4))(2-), (Si(4)H(4))(2-)·2Li(+), [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2Li(+), [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2Na(+), and [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2K(+), respectively, the energetically lowest-lying structures are designated A-3 (C(2v) symmetry), B-8 (C(1) symmetry), C-1 (C(2) symmetry), D-1 (C(2) symmetry), and E-1 (C(2h) symmetry). None of these structures satisfies both the ring planarity and the cyclic bond equalization criteria of aromaticity. However, all of the representative NICS values of these lowest-lying structures are negative, indicating some aromatic character. Especially, structures C-1 and D-1 of C(2) symmetry effectively satisfy the criteria of aromaticity due to the slightly trapezoidal silicon rings, which are nearly planar with nearly equal bond lengths. SiH(3) substitution for hydrogen in (Si(4)H(4))(2-)·2Li(+) significantly reduces the degree of aromaticity, as reflected in the substantially smaller NICS absolute values for [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2Li(+) than those of (Si(4)H(4))(2-) and (Si(4)H(4))(2-)·2Li(+). The aromaticity is further weakened in [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2Na(+) and [Si(4)(SiH(3))(4)](2-)·2K(+) by replacing lithium with the sodium and potassium cations.