Vibrational spectra of trimethylsilanol. The problem of the assignment of the SiOH group frequencies.

The assignment of the SiOH group vibrations of trimethylsilanol, which is still controversial, is proposed. This assignment is based on theoretical B3LYP force field scaled using the constants of the (CH3)3Si group optimized to fit experimental vibrational frequencies of (CH3)3SiF and (CD3)3SiF molecules as well as the OH stretching scale factor from methanol. The ab initio force field defined in this way gives a good agreement of the theoretical vibrational frequencies of trimethylsilanol with the positions of IR and Raman bands observed in the gas phase.