Silabenzene through divalent precursors at theoretical levels

Abstract  Based on geometries and relative energies, three different mechanisms are proposed for the rearrangements of five isomers of silacyclohexadienylidenes to silabenzene at B3LYP and MP2 levels: (1) [1,2]-hydrogen migration through a planar transition state, (2) [1,4]-hydrogen migration through a boat transition state, and (3) zip-zap mechanism, comprised of three successive [1,2]-hydrogen migrations. The above results are compared and contrasted to rearrangements of the corresponding cyclohexadienylidenes to benzene. Graphical abstract   Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.