  Motivated by solid-state studies on the cleavage force in Si, and the
consequent stretching of chemical bonds, we here study bond stretching in the,
as yet unsynthesized, free space molecule Si6H6. We address the question as to
whether substantial bond stretching (but constrained to uniform scaling on all
bonds) can result in a transition from ring current behaviour, characteristic
say of benzene at its equilibrium geometry, to localized pi-electrons on Si
atoms. Some calculations are also recorded on dissociation into 6 SiH radicals.
While the main studies have been carried out by unrestricted Hartree-Fock (HF)
theory, the influence of electron correlation has been examined using two forms
of density functional theory. Planar Si6H6 treated by HF is bound to be
unstable, not all vibrational frequencies being real. Some buckling is then
allowed, which results in real frequencies and stability. Evidence is then
provided that the non-planar structure, as the Si-Si distance is increased,
exhibits pi-electron localization in the range 1.2-1.5 times the equilibrium
distance.
