The fragment molecular orbital (FMO) scheme has been successfully used for a variety of large-scale molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids so far. We have applied the FMO calculations to the silicon-containing systems like polysilanes. The error caused by the fragmentation was examined by the Hartree-Fock method and the second-order Moller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation method for the ground state energy. The dynamic polarizability as a linear response property was also evaluated with and without the fragmentation. A series of numerical comparisons showed that the FMO scheme is applicable to silicon-based molecules with reasonable accuracy. This implied a potential availability of FMO calculations for the issues relevant to nanoscience and nanotechnology. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.