The transition state in catalytic surface chemistry

The transition states for the elementary steps of a catalytic surface react ion mechanism determine the overall rates of catalytic processes. Unfortuna tely, our understanding of the nature of transition states on surfaces rema ins very poor due to the extreme difficulties associated with experimental and computational methods for probing such metastable species. Currently pr ogress is being made along three fronts: state-resolved molecular adsorptio n and desorption experiments, measurements of substituent effects on reacti on barriers, and the use of computational simulation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.