The reaction path from orthosilicic acid to dipolar complex I was computed. Because there are several possible configurations of H3O + •H2O•H3SiO4 -, a representative transformation path from one dipolar complex I configuration to another was computed. The results are shown in figure and the corresponding energies are listed in table . Attempts to optimize OSAZ to an energy minimum were not successful in this system. Instead, OSAZ-like structures manifest as transition states between different dipolar complex I configurations.