Surface functional groups oxygen complexes

The surface chemistry of carbon is rather complex. At a single adsorption site several chemically inequivalent types of heteroatom bonds may form. Strong interactions between surface functional groups further complicate the list of surface chemical structures as derived for the most relevant carbon-oxygen system An additional dimension of complexity is presented by the large variety of substrate structures of carbon which arise from anisotropic covalent bonding rather than by a isotropic metallic interaction. 

Other covalently bonded catalysts are those on inorganic supports such as silica, molecular sieves (zeolites), and alumina, the complexes being held either directly via the oxygen of surface hydroxy groups or via an intermediate functional group, again especially phosphino. 

We have argued that (inner-sphere) surface complex formation of a metal ion to the oxygen donor atoms of the functional groups of a hydrous oxide is in principle similar to complex formation in homogeneous solution, and we have used the same type of equilibrium constants. How far can we apply similar concepts in kinetics ... 

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