Model Organic Rearrangements on Aluminum Surfaces

To what extent are the reactivity patterns of discrete organometallic complexes predictive of reaction pathways on surfaces? This question is a central focus of much current research, and the general understanding which is beginning to emerge suggests that a close similarity may often exist. The best established correlations in these so-called cluster-surface analogies, are ones which are structural in nature [5.1]. Considerable advances have been made in recent years and it is now clear that the bonding patterns of hydrocarbon moieties on surfaces find many analogies in corresponding discrete transition and main group organometallic complexes. This progress notwithstanding, structural determinations of these often transient surface species remain far from routine, require the application of multiple techniques, and frequently are beset by controversy.