We report the results of first principles Hartree-Fock (HF) and density fun
ctional theory (DFT) calculations on the H-1, Si-29 and O-17 NMR chemical s
hifts of hydroxyl groups in silica. The structure of the isolated or =Si-OH
of the geminal -Si(OH)(2) groups has been fully optimized from cluster mod
els derived from crystalline alpha-quartz and the nuclear magnetic shieldin
g properties have been determined according to the GIAO method. Quantitativ
e agreement with the available experimental data has been obtained at the D
FT level. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.