A quantum chemical study of silsesquioxanes: H8Si8O12, Me8Si8O12, H@Me8Si8O12, He@Me8Si8O 12 + , and He@Me8Si8O12

Quantum chemical PBE0 and B3LYP/cc-pVTZ, PBE0, B3LYP, RHF and MP2/6-31G(d,p) methods are employed to calculate the structural parameters of octa(silsesquioxane) H₈Si₈O₁₂ and octa(methylsilsesquioxane) Me₈Si₈O₁₂. These molecules and complexes H@Me₈Si₈O₁₂, He@Me₈Si₈O ₁₂ ⁺ , and He@Me₈Si₈O₁₂ have highly symmetric (O _h ) equilibrium configurations. With the use of the PBE0 method and a cc-pVTZ multicenter basis set common for the complex and its components coincidence is achieved between the calculated polarizability of a free He atom and the experimental value of 0.21 ų and the polarizability depression of 0.17 ų was found for He@Me₈Si₈O₁₂. In order to avoid the false conclusion about molecular symmetry the calculations of the structure of silsesquioxanes must be performed with sufficiently high accuracy (Int = ultrafine and Opt = tight in the use of the GAUSSIAN program).