Molecular polarizabilities and derivatives with respect to CC, CH, SiSi and SIH stretching modes were obtained from ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the HF/6-311G (3df,3pd) level for 14 molecules: ethene, cyclopropene, cyclobutadiene, cyclopentadiene, cis- and trans-butadiene, transhexatriene, benzene, naphthalene and the silanes Sit to Si5. Factors governing the trends in the intensities include conformation, chain length, location and orientation of a bond within the molecular framework. The results are compared with those from earlier studies on saturated alkanes and other work on conducting polymers. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.