The crystal structure and the bond critical point, bcp, properties of the electron density distribution for the
high-pressure silica polymorph coesite were generated for pressures up to ∼17 GPa, using first-principles
calculations. The nonequivalent SiO bond lengths and the SiOSi and OSiO angles of the generated structures
agree with those observed to within ∼1%. With compression, the SiO bond lengths and the variable SiOSi
angles of the structures both decrease while the value of the electron density, ρ(r
c), the curvatures, and the
Laplacian of the electron density distribution at the bond critical points each increases slightly. As found in
a recent modeling of the structure of low quartz, the calculated electron density distributions are nearly static
and change relatively little with compression. The bcp properties of the model structure agree with those
observed at ambient conditions to within ∼10%, on average, with several of the properties observed to correlate
with the observed SiO bond lengths, R(SiO). This agreement is comparable with that observed for several
other silicates. As predicted, the bonded radius of the oxide anion, the curvatures of ρ(r
c) paralleling the bond
paths and the Laplacian of ρ(r
c) each correlates with the observed bond lengths. However, the observed ρ(r
c)
values and the curvatures of ρ(r
c) perpendicular to the paths fail to show a correlation with the observed bond
lengths. The ellipticity of the SiO bonds in both the model and the observed structures tends to decrease in
value as the SiOSi angle approaches 180°, indicating that the bonds become more circular in cross sections
as the angle widens. Ridges of electron density and bond critical points were found between the intertetrahedral
oxide anions at each pressure. The existence of these features appears to be closely related to purely geometrical
factors of the coesite structure rather than to bonded interactions. None of these features was found between
the intratetrahedral oxide anions.