Spherical sila- and germa-homoaromaticity

J Am Chem Soc. 2003 Dec 17;125(50):15507-11. doi: 10.1021/ja038005u.

Abstract

Guided by the 2(N + 1)2 electron-counting rule for spherical aromatic molecules, we have designed various spherical sila- and germa-homoaromatic systems rich in group 14 elements. Their aromaticity is revealed by density-functional computations of their structures and the nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS). Besides the formerly used endohedral inclusion strategy, spherical homoaromaticity is another way to stabilize silicon and germanium clusters.