We present a coordination network, formed at a metal surface in a system facile to prepare because the required metal centers can be released in a measured fashion from the substrate by simple annealing. Analysis of the charge density in this system suggests that metal adatoms can have a pronounced donating character despite the electron deficiency of uncoordinated adatoms. The notion that metal adatoms present an anionic character in their interaction with molecular adsorbates could have significant and widespread implications (for example, in heterogeneous …
This work paper has been reported on the Angewandte Chemie (International Edition) [Greg Pawin et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 47, 8442 (2008)]