title: Spherical sila- and germa-homoaromaticity.
abstract: Guided by the 2(N + 1)2 electron-counting rule for spherical aromatic molecules, we have designed various spherical sila- and germa-homoaromatic systems rich in group 14 elements. Their aromaticity is revealed by density-functional computations of their structures and the nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS). Besides the formerly used endohedral inclusion strategy, spherical homoaromaticity is another way to stabilize silicon and germanium clusters.
authors.affiliation: Computational Chemistry Annex, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2525, USA. chen@organik.uni-erlangen.de
authors.forename: Zhongfang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagase
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Thiel
authors.forename: Paul von Ragué
authors.initials: Pv
authors.lastname: Schleyer