Comparison of Geometric, Electronic, and Vibrational Properties for All Pentagon/Hexagon-Bearing Isomers of Fullerenes C38, C40, and C42

The self-consistent-charge density-functional tight-binding (SCC-DFTB) method is employed for computing geometric, electronic, and vibrational properties for various topological isomers of small fullerenes. We consider all pentagon/hexagon-bearing isomers of C-38, C-40, and C-42 as the second part of a larger effort to catalogue the CC distance distributions, valence CCC angle distributions, electronic densities of states (DOSs), vibrational densities of states (VDOSs), and infrared (IR) and Raman spectra for fullerenes C-20-C-180 [analogous data for C-20-C-36 were published previously in Malolepsza et al., J Phys Chem A, 2007, 111, 6649]. Common features among the fullerenes are identified and properties characteristic for each specific fullerene cage size are discussed. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 109: 1999-2011, 2009