The mechanism of the nucleophilic substitution at the Si atom, SiH3Cl + Cl*(-) → SiH3Cl* + Cl(-), is examined by both quantum mechanical (QM) and molecular dynamics (MD) methods. This reaction proceeds by two steps with the inversion or retention of the configuration passing through an intermediate with the trigonal bipyramid (TBP) structure, although the conventional SN2 reaction at the C atom proceeds by one step with the inversion of the configuration passing through a transition state with the TBP structure. We followed by the QM calculations all the possible paths of the substitution reaction that undergo the TBP intermediates with the cis and trans forms produced by the frontside and backside attacks of Cl(-). As a result, it was thought that TBPcis1 produced with a high probability is readily transformed to the energetically more stable TBPtrans. This fact was also shown by the MD simulations. In order to obtain more information concerning the trajectory of Cl(-) on the dissociation from TBPtrans, which we cannot clarify on the basis of the energy profile determined by the QM method, the MD simulations with and without the water solvent were conducted and analyzed in detail. The QM-MD simulations without the water solvent revealed that the dissociation of Cl(-) from TBPtrans occurs without passing through TBPcis1'. The ONIOM-MD simulations with the water solvent further suggested that the thermal fluctuation of the water solvent significantly affects the oscillation of the kinetic and potential energies of the substrate to facilitate the isomerization of the TBP intermediate from the cis form to the trans form and the subsequent dissociation of Cl(-) from TBPtrans.

The mechanism of the σ bond cleavage of HO, NH, MeC═O, H, CH, BH, and SiH on the Ge═O bond of germanone is examined by means of both quantum mechanical (QM) and molecular dynamics (MD) methods. The QM calculations show that the σ bonds of all the substrates are heterolytically broken on the very largely polarized Ge═O bond. Before the σ bond cleavage, the substrate at first approach the Ge═O germanium in the cases of HO, MeC═O, and NH, and in contrast, the Ge═O oxygen in the cases of H, CH, BH, and SiH. For the cases of HO, NH, and MeC═O, a cluster in which the substrate coordinates to the Ge exists before the σ bond cleavage, and this coordination of the substrate plays an important role on the heterolytic σ bond cleavage. The QM-MD simulations are also conducted for the case of HO, and they show that the kinetic energy of the HO-coordinated cluster especially concentrates on the coordinated HO oxygen to strongly oscillate the coordinate bond between the HO oxygen and the Ge. This oscillation further enlarges just before the O-H σ bond cleavage, and the kinetic energy of this oscillation would be transmitted to the normal mode of the O-H bond breaking. Thus, the coordination and the vibration of the HO oxygen was thought to be an important driving force of the heterolytic cleavage of the O-H σ bond in both electronic and dynamical aspects.

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Nematic phase polymerization of diacetylenes proceeded without an induction period. The decay rate of monomers was found to be enhanced in a thin film sample. When an external electric field was applied to the thin film, the rate was accelerated with a threshold value of 2500 Vkm which corresponds to that for a dynamic scattering mode.