Ab Initio Study of Structures,Metallotropic 1,2-Shifts and Prototropic 1,2-Shifts of Cyclopentadienyl(trimethyl)silane, -germane and -stannane

Molecular structures, metallotropic and prototropic shifts of cyclopentadienyl(trimethyl)silane ( 1 ), cyclopentadienyl(trimethyl)germane ( 2 ), and cyclopentadienyl(trimethyl)stannane ( 3 ) were investigated using ab initio molecular orbital and the Becke, Lee, Yang, and Parr density functional (B3LYP) methods. The results show that the most stable structure of compounds 1-3 has the (CH 3 ) 3 M fragment in the allylic position. The energy barrier of metallotropic shifts in compound 1 is higher than in 2 , and in compound 2 higher than in 3 , in good agreement with experimental data. The cyclopentadienyl rings in compounds 1-3 are found to be planar but this result contradicts the reported experimental data.