Determination of Bond-energy Terms in Silicon-containing Compounds

The enthalpies of formation of a series of silicon-containing compounds have been calculated using various ab initio methods of quantum chemistry adapted to the size of the species under consideration. A few bond energy terms involving the silicon atom were derived from the corresponding enthalpies of atomization. Some interesting applications of these bond energy terms, namely the determination of conventional ring strain energies, steric strain and anomeric effects and the rationalization of various bond strengths are also described in this paper.