POTENTIAL-ENERGY SURFACE OF THE RING PUCKERING MOTION IN 1-CHLORO-1-SILACYCLOBUTANE

The equatorial-axial conformational equilibrium of 1-chloro-1-silacycl obutane has been investigated by microwave spectroscopy and ab initio calculations. The potential energy function of the ring puckering moti on has been determined: four vibrational states are localized in the e quatorial well and two vibrational states in the axial well, all the r emaining higher energy states lying above the interconversion barrier. This study has shown that the equatorial conformer is more stable tha n the axial one by 185(40) cm(-1). This value is in good agreement wit h that provided by ab initio calculations using the 6-31G basis set. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.