Anharmonic force field and spectroscopic constants of silene: an ab initio study

High-level ab initio calculations with large basis sets are reported for silene, H₂C=SiH₂. Correlated harmonic force fields are obtained from coupled cluster CCSD(T) calculations with the cc-pVQZ basis (cc-pVTZ for H) while the anharmonic force fields are computed at the MP2/TZ2Pf level. There is excellent agreement with the available experimental data, in particular the equilibrium geometry and the fundamental vibrational frequencies. Many other spectroscopic constants are predicted for the C _{2 v} isotopomers of silene. Received: 27 May 1998 / Accepted: 23 July 1998 / Published online: 9 October 1998