An electron diffraction and CNDO/2 investigation of the molecular structure and internal rotation of hexafluorodisilane,Si2F6

The molecular structure and internal rotation of Si₂F₆ were investigated by electron diffraction of gases. The following r⁰_α -values for the geometric parameters were obtained: r(Si-Si) = 2.317 ± 0.006 Å, r(Si-F) = 1.564 ± 0.002 Å and ∠FSiF = 108.6° ± 0.3°. The barrier to internal rotation was found to be between 0.51 ± 0.10 and 0.73 ± 0.14 kcal mol^?1, depending on different assumptions of temperature drop due to gas expansion in the nozzle. Attempts were made to calculate the potential barriers for Si₂X₆ molecules with X as H, F and Cl, using the CNDO/2 approximation. When the 3d orbitais of silicon are taken into account, these results differ widely from the experimental values in the case of Si₂Fg₆ and Si₂Cl₆. Neglecting the 3d orbitais of silicon the theoretical and experi- mental potential barriers agree very well.