AbstractRelative stabilities of the fullerenic structures C₆₀, Si₆₀, and Ge₆₀ are studied by means of semiempirical quantum-chemical methods. It is suggested that atomization energies rather than heats of formation should be used for the purpose at this level of description. In the former terms Si₆₀ and Ge₆₀ are located higher than the fullerene itself by about 4100 and 6500 kcal/mol, respectively. A poor SCF convergence is reported for both fullerene analogues. While Si₆₀ still exhibits the exact I_h symmetry, the Ge₆₀ cage shows some distortion from the highly symmetric form though the fullerenic topology is present. Mass effects create a considerably narrow vibrational spectrum for Si₆₀ and especially Ge₆₀. A related computation on B₆₀ suggests a better energy position comparing to Si₆₀.